George Bernard Shaw.
I tried to be a local councillor in the town of Berkhamsted, in the county of Hertfordshire in the south east of England. I hoped to represent the interests of the people who elected me; instead I became an insignificant part of a bloated system designed to serve the personal interests of its employees and their cronies, especially the rich men who run big companies. Satisfactory local services are not being delivered. People who complain are usually lied to.
The government tries to pretend that there is not much wrong with the system. Meanwhile, local taxes go up by more than the rate of inflation every year. I expect this extortion will continue until civil disobedience persuades those complacent politicians to do something about it. Disobedience might as well start here.
This web site is dedicated to victims of the establishment. I will publish their stories as they send them to me.
Victims' Stories
Responsibility for opinions expressed in articles published in this section and for the accuracy of any statements in them rests entirely with the individual contributor.
Readers' Letters
Links
Personal Experience
Falling Masonry
Extracts from the Hertfordshire Masonic Yearbook of 1999/2000.
Membership Lists
More lodge membership lists will follow.
Mason Illustration
To be continued ...
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Copyright © 2004 - Ian Johnston
A Management Systems Specialist sends the Local Government Ombudsman evidence of eleven irregularities committed by East Devon District Council when processing an application for planning consent. The LGO rules that only one of these constitutes "Maladministration".
Fylde Borough Council and property development.
Sheffield City Council encourages local volunteers to set up neighbourhood forums in order to obtain funding from the European Union. Council placemen then oust the volunteers and allow the council to misappropriate the funds.
Rayden Engineering fences off land it does not own without planning permission. The company fells trees, destroys a legally-protected bat habitat and lays uneven hardstanding which causes neighbouring properties to flood after heavy rain. Erewash Borough Council fails to enforce the law. Derbyshire Police arrest a neighbour on suspicion of causing damage to Rayden Engineering's property.
Agrevo's hazardous waste (Organophosphates) causes a truck driver severe health problems. The medical establishment will not help. Then he gets in touch with other victims.
A British Citizen, born in Egypt, lets a flat to a tenant who damages the property and racially abuses his landlord. Dacorum Borough Council prosecutes the landlord for illegal eviction.
A single mother is harassed by her neighbours. Camden Council refuses to help her. The Local Government Ombudsman finds in favour of the council.
A self-employed trader suffers a succession of crimes but finds that his local police force rarely helps him.
Hertfordshire County Council's reorganisation of its Fire and Rescue Service smacks of incompetence and worse. The "Public consultation" is a sham. False information is disseminated. Uncertainty is caused unnecessarily to firefighters and their families.
An employee of Neural Technologies complains to his employer and is summarily dismissed. The Southampton Employment Tribunal finds against him, and he is been unable to obtain redress through the courts ... so far.
The left-wing education establishment obstructs a professional archaeologist's work. Read his excellent new book, "A Question of Balance".
WARNING - this material is not suitable for devotees of Political Correctness ...
A Local Conciliation Officer described this as the worst case of solicitor negligence and misconduct he had ever seen. What made the case more severe was the number of solicitors involved and how some of those solicitors had covered up serious misconduct by others.
A shoemaker uses his shop window to display information about corruption and incompetence at his local council, which tries to force him out of business.
Cobblers to the council!
A resident is harassed by his neighbours. Camden Council, the Police, the Local Government Ombudsman, a succession of solicitors and the Law Society all let him down.
Stinchcombe Hill Golf Club obstructs the Cotswold Way. A walker who uses this public bridleway is repeatedly abused by golfers. Gloucestershire County Council and the Police refuse to intervene.
Manchester City Council repeatedly harasses one of its tenants. The Local Government Ombudsman supports the council. The victim does not obtain justice through the courts.
A 61-year-old man repeatedly abducts a 12-year-old boy, gives him alcohol, cigarettes and money and takes him to a nightclub. The man is sentenced to only six months in prison.
Hounslow Borough Council refuses to re-house members of a family living in overcrowded conditions. When he Department of Social Security muddles their Housing Benefit paperwork, the council threatens to evict them. The Local Government Ombudsman supports the council, until the complainant's persistence brings concessions.
A solicitors' error causes a house to be reposessed. The legal establishment covers up. The "Assistant Borough Solicitor" is found to have been "Struck off" and imprisoned ten years previously.
Twenty years of harassment by the Masons.
Camden Council Social Services harass a mother and her children while they are mourning the death of her father.
"Read how my daughter threw herself out of a window while under the care of Camden Council."
The responsible authorities fail to act on complaints about the treatment of an eight-year-old boy in the care of Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council. The council then takes the complainant to court in pursuit of Council Tax arrears which she does not owe.
Staff at Walsall Council's Print and Design Unit do little work, waste taxpayers' money and print supplies, fail to recycle and smoke and drink on duty. Drugs and stolen property are offered for sale on the premises. A staff member who complains is victimised and then sacked.
A tenant sub-lets his flat illegally to anti-social people. A neighbour who complains to Camden Council is attacked by means of electronic transmissions. Camden Council and the Local Government Ombudsman protect the offenders.
The Honorary Regional Secretary of the National Federation of Self Employed and Small Businesses Limited uncovers irregularities within the company and is forced from his post.
Derby City Council refuses an application to become a foster carer. Read the applicant's open letter to the Chief Executive.
Residents have been seeking basic improvements to their road for seven years without success. In the meantime, their Council Tax has almost doubled.
Waverley Council repeatedly fails to repair a tenant's home.
A Forestry Officer employed by South Oxfordshire District Council wrongly accuses the owner of a listed building of breaching Town Planning regulations. A Planning Officer working for the same local authority is careless in writing a report on a proposed car port. The council will not admit that the officers made mistakes. The Planning Inspectorate and the Local Government Ombudsman refuse to intervene and cut off communication. As a result, the owner is forced to build something which is out of keeping with his property.
A pub's noisy extractor fan keeps a resident awake at night. Camden Council refuses to intervene. The Local Government Ombudsman finds in favour of the council. The ombudsman's recommendations are not even passed on to the victim.
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