Viking Supporters Co-operative
Viking Chat => Off Topic => Topic started by: albie on November 16, 2021, 05:27:56 pm
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Yes, scarcely credible I know, but the mates rates sleaze epidemic raging exponentially;
https://goodlawproject.org/news/conservative-politicians-vip-lane/
Same story in the Independent.
That Matt Hancock seemed such a nice lad, must have been led astray by bigger bad un's!
No point in an open transparent process, when you have a pal who can step up, no questions asked.
To think people consider us corrupt eh!
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Fast tracking PPE...somebody needs to get a life!
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Fast tracking PPE...somebody needs to get a life!
Did you know that of the £17.3 billions-worth of Covid contracts awarded up to July 2020, £17.1 billions-worth were awarded with no competition?
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Fast tracking PPE...somebody needs to get a life!
Did you know that of the £17.3 billions-worth of Covid contracts awarded up to July 2020, £17.1 billions-worth were awarded with no competition?
I don't have a fundamental problem with that in fairness, given the nature of the crisis.
What I do have a problem with was the Govt breaking it's own rules in not making those contract details public so there could be some oversight of who was getting the money. Increasingly we are now seeing why ...
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Fast tracking PPE...somebody needs to get a life!
Did you know that of the £17.3 billions-worth of Covid contracts awarded up to July 2020, £17.1 billions-worth were awarded with no competition?
I don't have a fundamental problem with that in fairness, given the nature of the crisis.
What I do have a problem with was the Govt breaking it's own rules in not making those contract details public so there could be some oversight of who was getting the money. Increasingly we are now seeing why ...
If that is the case there needs to be a reckoning,I haven't got an issue with this sort of stuff being fast tracked I applaud it, but I can't condone a process with no transparency."
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Fast tracking PPE...somebody needs to get a life!
Did you know that of the £17.3 billions-worth of Covid contracts awarded up to July 2020, £17.1 billions-worth were awarded with no competition?
I don't have a fundamental problem with that in fairness, given the nature of the crisis.
What I do have a problem with was the Govt breaking it's own rules in not making those contract details public so there could be some oversight of who was getting the money. Increasingly we are now seeing why ...
If that is the case there needs to be a reckoning,I haven't got an issue with this sort of stuff being fast tracked I applaud it, but I can't condone a process with no transparency."
Agreed.
There's a Govt rule that all contracts above a certain amount must be published within 28 days of placement. The Govt was still witholding contracts this time last year that had been placed 6 months earlier. They were taken to court and lost, after having run up £1.5m in court costs. One of the contracts they didn't publish was the one for COVID masks given to a pest elimination company. Who then spent £200m buying out of spec masks that were never used.
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It is common to keep a list of vetted contractors in the specific area to be supplied, then a competitive tender to be sought.
It is not just the suspension of tender requirements due to the crisis, but that firms with no track record in relevant product procurement being awarded contracts.
These companies then acted as "fixers", seeking deals on the market for less than the amounts they were guaranteed. No surprise that quality control was lacking, and wastage excessive.
The other papers are on this now, Mirror and Guardian running the story.
Most interesting is the Daily Mail;
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10207949/Matt-Hancock-Lord-Feldman-Tories-helped-47-firms-win-Covid-contracts-worth-millions.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
Bozo is going to be facing the 1922 Committee sooner rather than later.
What's that sound......someone edging their blade!
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We live in a society where corruption is the norm, you are surprised when someone is honest nowadays.
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We live in a society where corruption is the norm, you are surprised when someone is honest nowadays.
And once again, I'll point out that in respect of MPs, this is absolute nonsense. The vast majority of them are honest, hard working and not on the fiddle. The problem with this attitude is that it normalises the behaviour of the few bas**rds who ARE bent. If you just assume everyone is dishonest, you've lost the leverage to discriminate against those who truly are. And as such, you become a major part of the problem. Because the truly dishonest know that they can get away with being dishonest if people assume they are all as bad as each other.
This is the reason why we end up with a genuine pathological liar for Prime Minister. A man whose entire career has been built on a foundation of lies. Someone like that can only become PM in a society where people have stopped differentiating between the bent and the honest.
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We live in a society where corruption is the norm, you are surprised when someone is honest nowadays.
And once again, I'll point out that in respect of MPs, this is absolute nonsense. The vast majority of them are honest, hard working and not on the fiddle. The problem with this attitude is that it normalises the behaviour of the few bas**rds who ARE bent. If you just assume everyone is dishonest, you've lost the leverage to discriminate against those who truly are. And as such, you become a major part of the problem. Because the truly dishonest know that they can get away with being dishonest if people assume they are all as bad as each other.
This is the reason why we end up with a genuine pathological liar for Prime Minister. A man whose entire career has been built on a foundation of lies. Someone like that can only become PM in a society where people have stopped differentiating between the bent and the honest.
I agree with you about them being honest and not on the fiddle, but hard working? I've stood on Westminster Bridge on many occasions seeing them all lounging about on that veranda as p*ssed as farts for hours on end.
I can't recall any job I've ever done allowing that.
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Let me get this right SS.
You've many times stood on Westminster Bridge for hours on end watching MPs drink?
And I thought birdwatching was a dull pastime...
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What about people who spend hours on end on a football forum during the day when they should be at work.
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Let me get this right SS.
You've many times stood on Westminster Bridge for hours on end watching MPs drink?
And I thought birdwatching was a dull pastime...
I was doing that at the same time. Not of the feathered kind though.
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More cheesy sleaze, from the Hancock stable of corruption;
https://twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1505817365904244739
Worth following the thread down.
Maughan is the barrister from the GoodLaw Project (see the op).
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was there anyone that wasn't in on it?
''Private emails reveal Gove’s role in Tory-linked firm’s PPE deals
Exclusive: Tory peer Michelle Mone used private email addresses to contact Gove and another cabinet minister about PPE offer''
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/mar/24/michael-gove-private-emails-ppe-deals-tory-linked-firms
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We’re any of these actually established PPE suppliers
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We’re any of these actually established PPE suppliers
I'm sure some were. But others were clearly barrow boy spivs on the make.
The boss of Pestfix, which got a multi-£100m contact for PPE with no competition immediately went on LinkedIn asking if anyone knew a good supplier of nitrile gloves.
His company is the one that spent £200m of your and my money on face masks that were the wrong spec and were never used.
And no-one has been, or will be held to account for this.
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We’re any of these actually established PPE suppliers
I'm sure some were. But others were clearly barrow boy spivs on the make.
The boss of Pestfix, which got a multi-£100m contact for PPE with no competition immediately went on LinkedIn asking if anyone knew a good supplier of nitrile gloves.
His company is the one that spent £200m of your and my money on face masks that were the wrong spec and were never used.
And no-one has been, or will be held to account for this.
Most seemed brand new companies or ones that had nothing to do with PPE supply. The only box they ticked was being mates with a minister
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Useless PPE going to be burned:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/covid-unusable-ppe-burnt-fast-track-b2030820.html
Fast tracking PPE...somebody needs to get a life!
Not looking clever, this post Sproty!
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I looked up one of these amazing companies. It was registered at Cardiff in January 2021. It has one shareholder. Total capital base is £20. That's 20 quid. Not 20 grand or 20 million. Twenty quid. Think about what that implies... It has an utterly vague description of its purpose. Several press reports noted it was awarded a £20M PPE contract, without any competitive process being followed, 6 weeks after the company was set up.
Oh. And the sole shareholder was at Eton with Boris. Odd coincidence that don't you think?
BobG
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The Govt set up a VIP fast track for companies to quickly get PPE contracts. Not in itself a bad thing of course. Except there are myriad examples of Tory donors and mates of cabinet ministers getting contracts this way. There was the example that came to light earlier this week of a mate of a Tory peer being paid £122m for PPE that cost £46m and was then found to be useless.
Would be bad enough if that was a lone example. But today, the National Audit Office has reported that HALF of these fast tracked companies delivered PPE that was judged unfit for purpose by the NHS.
This stinks to high heaven. There has to be an inquiry into how these companies were set up, how much profit they made and which politicians pushed their cases forward.
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In days of yore even what has come out so far would have led to the fall of whatever government presided over such a corrupt shambles. What we are witnessing, without any doubt at all, is the decay of democracy - at an ever increasing rate.
I am not making an anti Conservative point here either. Tony Blair was a bugger for sidestepping the House of Commons too. All Fatso has done is speed up the rate of decay
BobG
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In days of yore even what has come out so far would have led to the fall of whatever government presided over such a corrupt shambles. What we are witnessing, without any doubt at all, is the decay of democracy - at an ever increasing rate.
I am not making an anti Conservative point here either. Tony Blair was a bugger for sidestepping the House of Commons too. All Fatso has done is speed up the rate of decay
BobG
But this is the thing, yon fella above just can't accept that this just demonstrates how MP's of ALL flavours have always been quick on the uptake and all have these corrupt tendencies, if its not someone pushing their mates into PPE contracts its others who flip their domestic and business living arrangements to better their expense's take or others who will quietly side with businesses or industry when in a government job that will "see them right" when the time comes and they are on longer tied to the ministerial code.
There are so many examples of this type of underhand and corrupt behavior its virtually become accepted that if you go into the Commons as a young , impressional and principled individual who is going to change the face of the country , you will be leaving as a old, gnarled, unprincipled, corrupt and very rich person who did nothing for the country but feathered you nest to such an extent that you cant breath for the stuff.
Step forward and take a very big and very insincere bow,
Billy "20pints" Hague,
Peter "weasel" Mandleson,
Neil "windbag" Kinnock,
Every ex tory minister that has ever taken a breath in Westminster along with a good proportion of "principled and very humble" Labour MP's
Scumbags the lot of them, if anyone ever dares to mention that they aspire to become a political activist straight out of Uni with their fiddled PPE degree shoved in their back pocket then they all deserve to be looked upon and treated as the "devil incarnate" and the "evil within" for this once proud and upstanding nation.
Lions led by proper thieving scum.
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OK DD. The facts are what they are. If we want to change the environment, what do we do???
As an aside, purely from personal observation this last 11 weeks, the end result of what you describe is right here in South America. And it makes my blood, and my piss, boil almost every single day. Step forward Nicolas Maduro. That man should be flayed alive, have salt rubbed all over, and then be pinned to the ground, under the baking sun, with honey where his balls once were. The ants and the sun can finish him off.
I'll shut up, because if I don't I'll still be writing this time tomorrow. That man is an abomination with neither morals nor conscience.
BobG
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Corruption in and of public office can only occur if it allowed to by the public, this must be the only time in recent political history where a known waster was elected to parliament and then to the highest office. If you or anyone cannot see the difference in that and those in his party that blindly support him and the others you mention DD then yes the UK truly is in trouble. It behoves every one of the complainers to get out there support good people and get them into government, you can't change the past and you cannot stop those that change when they do attain office but they can be voted out.
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OK DD. The facts are what they are. If we want to change the environment, what do we do???
As an aside, purely from personal observation this last 11 weeks, the end result of what you describe is right here in South America. And it makes my blood, and my piss, boil almost every single day. Step forward Nicolas Maduro. That man should be flayed alive, have salt rubbed all over, and then be pinned to the ground, under the baking sun, with honey where his balls once were. The ants and the sun can finish him off.
I'll shut up, because if I don't I'll still be writing this time tomorrow. That man is an abomination with neither morals nor conscience.
BobG
Very difficult for the man in the street in a country like this that has a reputation for being very reserved and orderly to take any sort of action that will quell this type of behaviour.
I don't believe the proportional representation system can cut it as we would have compromise government that would never achieve anything and would make the short lived coalitions in Europe look like serious leadership.
The Swiss Canton referendum type local Government with national plebiscite's could be a way to stop this snout in trough type government but it would also be open to corruption and pressure from elements who think they know best and try to sway a politically illiterate and indifferent populace.
Not easy to eradicate and because of this we will plod on with our current system as no party in government has the minerals to take a lead and try to stop this political merry go round.
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Corruption in and of public office can only occur if it allowed to by the public, this must be the only time in recent political history where a known waster was elected to parliament and then to the highest office. If you or anyone cannot see the difference in that and those in his party that blindly support him and the others you mention DD then yes the UK truly is in trouble. It behoves every one of the complainers to get out there support good people and get them into government, you can't change the past and you cannot stop those that change when they do attain office but they can be voted out.
As a nation we, including me can all see the aberration that is this current government and i'm quite sure there will be a reckoning when the time comes for them all.
When someone like you talks about "good people" i and many others would be very suspect in what type of individual you would be pushing as to be, next years model.
We all want government to be accountable and representative as to the wishes and aspirations of the majority. I do believe that would exclude certain radical elements that some would wish for.
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Corruption in and of public office can only occur if it allowed to by the public, this must be the only time in recent political history where a known waster was elected to parliament and then to the highest office. If you or anyone cannot see the difference in that and those in his party that blindly support him and the others you mention DD then yes the UK truly is in trouble. It behoves every one of the complainers to get out there support good people and get them into government, you can't change the past and you cannot stop those that change when they do attain office but they can be voted out.
As a nation we, including me can all see the aberration that is this current government and i'm quite sure there will be a reckoning when the time comes for them all.
When someone like you talks about "good people" i and many others would be very suspect in what type of individual you would be pushing as to be, next years model.
We all want government to be accountable and representative as to the wishes and aspirations of the majority. I do believe that would exclude certain radical elements that some would wish for.
It's fairly easy, do what any normal person would tell their kids, don't tell lies and own up and apologise when you make a mistake, if someone isn't doing that before the election they are hardly going to change in office, not hard to spot is it? there fixed that for you DD
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As I regularly point out, we did have a PM 13 years ago who never had his snout in the trough. There are plenty of decent politicians. If you don't vote for them, you can't complain.
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As I regularly point out, we did have a PM 13 years ago who never had his snout in the trough. There are plenty of decent politicians. If you don't vote for them, you can't complain.
Couldn’t agree more BST
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As I regularly point out, we did have a PM 13 years ago who never had his snout in the trough. There are plenty of decent politicians. If you don't vote for them, you can't complain.
Hmm, decent human being, quite possibly, decent politician, i think the jury is still out on that one.
We are talking about the same Gordon Brown who told the world he wanted to sell some gold, and then wondered why we got next to nothing for it.
The same fella who managed to destroy private pension schemes so we now have people who are desperately short of what they had originally been told they could expect.
Or is this the same guy who presided over 13 years of "soft touch" regulation of the financial services markets who then had to impersonate superman and save the world, got loads of plaudits for his "competence" whilst the world forgot about his previous cosying up to the square mile that caused the sh*tstorm in the first place.
Would this be the same decent politician you are referring to.
Don't start me on his "bigoted woman" escapade, but i do believe after that a great many people decided that he was not someone to vote for.
I'm now hoping you didn't mean his best buddy Tony. No you didn't did you, no one could ever mean that piece of work.
Good, glad we got that straight.
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DD.
You were talking about politicians' personal morals.
Then you skipped straight into a highly subjective rant over Brown's policies. Which topic do you want to discuss, because they are two separate issues.
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The thread is about corruption in the procurement process for PPE....nothing to do with Gordon Brown.
I am surprised no-one has picked up on the double whammy.
Not only did we pay way over the odds for useless PPE from people who should never have been allowed to bid, but now we are having to pay (again) to dispose of this unsuitable material.
Instead of insisting that those who provided poor quality PPE pay back what they owe the public purse, they get a free pass on that.
Instead of making these people pay for disposal of their crap, the public will pay through the nose for destruction of this inappropriate dross.
Wrong on so many levels, yet no fuss!
Why not?
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The thread is about corruption in the procurement process for PPE....nothing to do with Gordon Brown.
I am surprised no-one has picked up on the double whammy.
Not only did we pay way over the odds for useless PPE from people who should never have been allowed to bid, but now we are having to pay (again) to dispose of this unsuitable material.
Instead of insisting that those who provided poor quality PPE pay back what they owe the public purse, they get a free pass on that.
Instead of making these people pay for disposal of their crap, the public will pay through the nose for destruction of this inappropriate dross.
Wrong on so many levels, yet no fuss!
Why not?
There has been plenty of fuss about it albie.
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Well Hound,
Nowt done, that I can see!
They have got away with it, and Bozo and his tribe have shown no interest in correcting their massive fraud on the public finances.
Shameful IMHO.
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Well Hound,
Nowt done, that I can see!
They have got away with it, and Bozo and his tribe have shown no interest in correcting their massive fraud on the public finances.
Shameful IMHO.
Agreed but to say there has been no fuss isn’t correct.
Type “PPE contracts scandal” into Google and there are lots of articles having their say about this.
With regards to nothing done, I found this at the top of the list,
In January 2022, the High Court ruled that the use of the VIP lane had been unlawful, following a legal challenge by The Good Law Centre over the awarding of PPE contracts to two companies. But the High Court also ruled that the companies were "very likely" to have been awarded contracts anyway.18 Jan 2022
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DD.
You were talking about politicians' personal morals.
Then you skipped straight into a highly subjective rant over Brown's policies. Which topic do you want to discuss, because they are two separate issues.
You decided to offer us up a decent politician in Mr Brown, I did say he was quite possibly a decent human being and as such bears no resemblance to what we have to put up with just now, no sane person would dispute that.
I only thought it proper to offer up the fact that being decent dosen't cut the mustard when your political choices ruins and beggars the country for 10 years.
Its like picking your mate for the football team even though he has two left feet.
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Nobody has had to pay back the money, Hound.
In normal life, if you sell equipment which is sub-standard, then it would be an offence.
You might expect trading standards to get involved, and it would be reasonable to have a refund for the price paid.
You would want your money back if you were mis-sold a piece of kit that was not up to scratch, so why are the government not prosecuting their mates who have stolen from the general public?
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Nobody has had to pay back the money, Hound.
In normal life, if you sell equipment which is sub-standard, then it would be an offence.
You might expect trading standards to get involved, and it would be reasonable to have a refund for the price paid.
You would want your money back if you were mis-sold a piece of kit that was not up to scratch, so why are the government not prosecuting their mates who have stolen from the general public?
I understand all of that and agree with you.
I am not arguing with you about it.
You did say there hadn’t been a fuss, which there clearly has.
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The thread is about corruption in the procurement process for PPE....nothing to do with Gordon Brown.
I am surprised no-one has picked up on the double whammy.
Not only did we pay way over the odds for useless PPE from people who should never have been allowed to bid, but now we are having to pay (again) to dispose of this unsuitable material.
Instead of insisting that those who provided poor quality PPE pay back what they owe the public purse, they get a free pass on that.
Instead of making these people pay for disposal of their crap, the public will pay through the nose for destruction of this inappropriate dross.
Wrong on so many levels, yet no fuss!
Why not?
Albie
Threads, like children, don't always grow up as their parents would prefer. DD extended the theme to imply pretty much all politicians were "scumbags, the lot of them.....proper thieving scum".
I profoundly disagree with that, and I think it is a very, very dangerous attitude. Because it normalises that sort of behaviour by a small number of MPs and it means that there is no incentive for MPs to behave in a principled and moral way. Which I believe most of them, on all sides, generally do. So I gave an example of a recent PM who, so far as I can see, never had his snout in the trough.
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Remember Dominic Cummings?
Well, he has tweeted that corruption extended from Johnson to the media;
https://twitter.com/Dominic2306/status/1524394482938093571
It seems like he is referring to this story covered at the time;
https://bylinetimes.com/2022/03/08/government-refuses-to-reveal-taxpayer-cost-of-secret-covid-subsidy-for-its-wealthy-press-friends/
It will be interesting to see how this develops.
The media interests involved will not be keen to tell you about all this carry on.
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Remember Dominic Cummings?
Well, he has tweeted that corruption extended from Johnson to the media;
https://twitter.com/Dominic2306/status/1524394482938093571
It seems like he is referring to this story covered at the time;
https://bylinetimes.com/2022/03/08/government-refuses-to-reveal-taxpayer-cost-of-secret-covid-subsidy-for-its-wealthy-press-friends/
It will be interesting to see how this develops.
The media interests involved will not be keen to tell you about all this carry on.
That is...I was going to say "beyond belief" but it's actually yet another example of how this lot used the cover of COVID to syphon money into the pockets of powerful friends. Truly disgusting.
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It boils downs to just two words: Hush Money.
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Further comment on the runners and riders in "Bung-Gate";
https://bylinetimes.com/2022/05/11/bungs-to-billionaires-cummings-exposes-johnsons-cash-for-content-scandal/
What a sordid corrupt affair!
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The Govt spokesperson quote at the end of that article is chilling.
In summary:
"WE chose which media organisations to give unaccountable money to."
In a functioning democracy, that information should be made available for all to see. Otherwise, how can voters know whether papers that run hatchet jobs on Opposition politicians in the week of a national election are just repaying their bungs?
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Good Law project reporting on the PPE snouts;
https://goodlawproject.org/revealed-the-names-of-those-who-referred-covid-testing-firms-into-the-vip-lane/
Hancockery all round!
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And if I remember correctly Albie, not a single referral from outside the tory party was accepted.
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''Innova Medical landed Covid contracts valued at £4 billion via the ‘VIP’ lane after its UK partner, a company trading under the name ‘Tried & Tested’ contacted Boris Johnson’s former advisor, Dominic Cummings''
''Only Conservative Party Peers, MPs and donors appear to be named as referrers – no politician from any other political party succeeded in referring suppliers onto the Covid testing VIP lane''
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Glyn. There was a lot of awarding of contracts without competition. Maybe people would have preferred to have gone through the normal processes of competition while the epidemic spread and thousand / millions more people died
There have obviously been some questions asked about some of the contracts awarded but does anyone really believe that the government went out to award contracts to their mates at the expense of public safety
That is some conspiracy theory. I actually heard that as part of the process Elvis was employed in a covert capacity to help the selection process
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You'd think that in an emergency the procurement department set up for just that. procurement would have handled, well procurement aye? wouldn't they be the specialists best able to handle that sort of work phil?
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''Matt Hancock assisted Ecolog International onto the ‘VIP’ lane after being contacted by Genix Healthcare – a company that has donated £156,000 to the Conservative Party. Hancock’s Department paid Ecolog £38m in 2021, after the Government decided not to proceed with previously contracted Covid work''
''Only Conservative Party Peers, MPs and donors appear to be named as referrers – no politician from any other political party succeeded in referring suppliers onto the Covid testing VIP lane''
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Whoa, look out there a massive five in the heart of London, it's an emergency someone call the fire brigade ....... no, no, no, call the tory party.
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You’re maybe right Syd but Glynis argument is about the lack of competition. Which doesn’t add up in this case.
If the government had gone through the usual expected competition methods then Potentially more people would have died and they would be getting slated for taking too long sorting it out.
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ARCO who it appears previously supplied PPE didn't get a look in
BY ANGUS YOUNG
05:00, 18 DEC 2022UPDATED07:16, 18 DEC 2022
Thomas Martin, chairman of Arco
Thomas Martin was waiting for a call that would never come.
The outbreak of the Covid pandemic had plunged Britain into its gravest crisis in decades and, as the chairman of one of the country's biggest safetywear companies, he knew he could help.
Arco had £44m-worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) sitting in warehouses, including in a vast 220,000sq ft distribution centre which opened just weeks before the UK went into its first Covid lockdown. Mr Martin also knew his firm's long-established supply chain team in Xiamen, China, could quickly secure quality-assured PPE to protect health workers against a deadly and little-known virus.
What he didn't know was that a "VIP fast lane'' was being hurriedly set up which would allow certain MPs, ministers, peers, and senior NHS officials the opportunity to give companies they personally knew about priority to secure vital PPE supplies. It was a lane never destined to reach the main road into Hull.
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Glyn. There was a lot of awarding of contracts without competition. Maybe people would have preferred to have gone through the normal processes of competition while the epidemic spread and thousand / millions more people died
There have obviously been some questions asked about some of the contracts awarded but does anyone really believe that the government went out to award contracts to their mates at the expense of public safety
That is some conspiracy theory. I actually heard that as part of the process Elvis was employed in a covert capacity to help the selection process
I have no problem with the government acting quickly at the time.
However, do I have a problem with companies offering the perfectly acceptable goods and expert services that were required at the time being completely ignored when speed was apparently of the essence, being as it is now the excuse for why money being thrown at inappropriate 'suppliers' in the manner it was.
I also have a problem with the government not moving in the slightest to reclaim money spent for which they did not receive the goods and/or services contracted for.
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It was criminal fraud. Pure and simple. It was also corrupt. As I have spent decades buying supplies, emergency and none emergency, I know very well both the normal government processes and those that apply at times of crisis. There are, and there always has been ways to deal with crisis procurement needs.
What happened here complied with absolutely none of those ways. Given the general honesty and probity of Civil Servants, who must have had to create and issue these contracts, I am pretty sure ultra vires approvals had to be given and Civil Servants leaned on very heavily indeed.
This was and is criminal fraud and criminal corruption. I suspect serious bullying of staff too.
BobG
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Well worth looking at what ARCO's CEO says about the procurement of PPE , how they one of UKs largest suppliers were treated , and their proposals in case of another pandemic via a 10 point plan.
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And in combination with the above give yourself a bit of time to read this .........
NHS eProcurement Strategy
Dr Dan Poulter MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health
In August 2013, we published Better Procurement Better Value Better Care, which established a new Procurement Programme to help NHS trusts stabilise their non-pay spending so that they spend no more than they currently do by the end of 2015-16, thereby realising £1.5bn of procurement efficiencies.
There have been many previous initiatives to realise procurement but this time we mean business money for frontline care.
To ensure that these new efficiencies are sustained and further improved upon, I am announcing this NHS eProcurement strategy, which will establish the global GS1 coding and PEPPOL messaging standards throughout the healthcare sector and its supporting supply chains. Compliance with these standards will enable trusts to control and manage their non-pay spending''
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/344574/NHS_eProcurement_Strategy.pdf
''To ensure that these new efficiencies are sustained and further improved upon'' he said
Therefore 4 years before the pandemic hit, the procurement system introduced by this string of tory governments should have been the bees knees, smick and running like a well oiled clock certainly not like diarrhea.
And yet .............
''Revealed: PPE stockpile was out-of-date when coronavirus hit UK''
https://www.channel4.com/news/revealed-ppe-stockpile-was-out-of-date-when-coronavirus-hit-uk
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Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson’s Covid inquiry defence to be funded by taxpayers
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/matt-hancock-boris-johnsons-covid-inquiry-defence-funded-by-taxpayers-2053720
Good to know that we are all chipping in to cover the legal costs of the Covid bad lads.
Only right that the general public should cough for this, as we don't want our crooks out of pocket, do we?
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Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson’s Covid inquiry defence to be funded by taxpayers
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/matt-hancock-boris-johnsons-covid-inquiry-defence-funded-by-taxpayers-2053720
Good to know that we are all chipping in to cover the legal costs of the Covid bad lads.
Only right that the general public should cough for this, as we don't want our crooks out of pocket, do we?
Aye, but lets us plebs try to get Legal Aid, or what ever its called these days and it’s a big fat no!
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Legal Aid is just about dead. Of course, there are beneficiaries of that. Let me think.... Oh! Them that are prone to issuing gagging writs and threats....
BobG
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What happened to legal Aid?
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this may be a good place to start
''Legal aid: how has it changed in 70 years?
Everything you need to know about the history of legal aid and where it stands now''
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2018/dec/26/legal-aid-how-has-it-changed-in-70-years
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What happened to legal Aid?
Well apparently the £1.6b a year spent on it means it has virtually gone.
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What happened to legal Aid?
Well apparently the £1.6b a year spent on it means it has virtually gone.
Compared with £2.8 billion a year in 2010/11 nearly half of it has gone.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1098628/legal-aid-spending-in-england-and-wales/
As there were 4.2 million cases in 2019/20 that would be over £380 each. How generous you are hound.
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There is NO legsl aid for anything to do with children. There is NO legal aid for anything to do with employment rights. But there IS legal aid for multi millionaire ex Prime Ministers enjoying an indexed stipend of £100K a year for life on top of their £200K a year from writing for right-wing press magnates, £100K+ a year for pretending to be an MP and over a million a year from giving tub thumping speeches to assorted people of low intellect.
It's great isn't it Hound?
BobG
Later: the other point about this, of course, is, as Wilts has pointed out, that the annual Legal Aid saving is £1.3Bn - sold on the idea that the country can't afford it any more. Over 10 years, that's £13Bn saving. Not bad. Until you lay it alongside the £70Bn splurged in 1 year on a useless track and trace system and the £20Bn, £30Bn, (who knows...) splurged on corrupt contracts awarded to friends of the Tory party for PPE that never worked.
Anybody, anybody, who defends these last years of Conservative government has lost contact with reality.
BobG
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And a happy new year to you both………
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And yourself hound. Hope its a good one for you and the family.
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..... "Low intellect"
BG, I see any New Years' Resolutions you might have don't include you attempting to stop thinking more of yourself than any f**ker else does.
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At least I possess insight and an ability to reflect BB. I don't need to rely upon antiquated dogma and foul language in lieu of anything useful from my brain like you are obliged to do.
I note, with interest, that you failed to make even one constructive comment on the substance of my post. I guess that means you entirely agree with it. Well done BB! Seeing the light, no matter how long delayed, is always a breakthrough.
Regards
BobG
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But then you're lucky in that regard BG because, unlike me, you don't have to put up with an irritant like you.
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There is NO legsl aid for anything to do with children. There is NO legal aid for anything to do with employment rights. But there IS legal aid for multi millionaire ex Prime Ministers enjoying an indexed stipend of £100K a year for life on top of their £200K a year from writing for right-wing press magnates, £100K+ a year for pretending to be an MP and over a million a year from giving tub thumping speeches to assorted people of low intellect.
It's great isn't it Hound?
BobG
Later: the other point about this, of course, is, as Wilts has pointed out, that the annual Legal Aid saving is £1.3Bn - sold on the idea that the country can't afford it any more. Over 10 years, that's £13Bn saving. Not bad. Until you lay it alongside the £70Bn splurged in 1 year on a useless track and trace system and the £20Bn, £30Bn, (who knows...) splurged on corrupt contracts awarded to friends of the Tory party for PPE that never worked.
Anybody, anybody, who defends these last years of Conservative government has lost contact with reality.
BobG
With regards to your edit, who on here has defended the stuff you have listed.
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https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/01/wreckage-of-brexit-politicians-denial
BobG
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Nice insight and reflection there Bob.
Now if you could give us some more of your insight and answer Hounds question so we can all reflect on it
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Tory donors paid to destroy the useless PPE;
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-donors-firm-paid-11m-28956268
Beginning to look like a failed state, are we not?
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PM’s multi millionaire wife had shares in firm that got nearly £300,000 in loans from scheme funded by the taxpayer her husband set up when he was Chancellor and then it went bust and doesn't have to pay a penny back
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Sunak pimping out NHS data to the private sector;
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunaks-lobbyist-election-guru-29250121
On it goes, the torture never stops!
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Sunak pimping out NHS data to the private sector;
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunaks-lobbyist-election-guru-29250121
On it goes, the torture never stops!
Unfortunately for us all this is ongoing, this government will be removed at the next election, and in effect get away with their crimes, Scott free, are we to assume an incoming administration will not continue with their version of torture? i doubt anyone on here is that naive !
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Latest update on snoutgate:
https://actions.goodlawproject.org/ppe_win_update_120122
Oh dear, poor Mr Hancock!
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We live in a society where corruption is the norm, you are surprised when someone is honest nowadays.
which gives me a perfect excuse yet again to post my "perceived corruption Index"
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022
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There is NO legsl aid for anything to do with children. There is NO legal aid for anything to do with employment rights. But there IS legal aid for multi millionaire ex Prime Ministers enjoying an indexed stipend of £100K a year for life on top of their £200K a year from writing for right-wing press magnates, £100K+ a year for pretending to be an MP and over a million a year from giving tub thumping speeches to assorted people of low intellect.
It's great isn't it Hound?
BobG
Later: the other point about this, of course, is, as Wilts has pointed out, that the annual Legal Aid saving is £1.3Bn - sold on the idea that the country can't afford it any more. Over 10 years, that's £13Bn saving. Not bad. Until you lay it alongside the £70Bn splurged in 1 year on a useless track and trace system and the £20Bn, £30Bn, (who knows...) splurged on corrupt contracts awarded to friends of the Tory party for PPE that never worked.
Anybody, anybody, who defends these last years of Conservative government has lost contact with reality.
BobG
True ... And one of the things I keep seeing is they got 35 million for this or 80 millions for that
Test and Trace got 37 billion and people were outraged but maybe like me they didnt really appreciate the huge difference till it is expressed as "time"
Like this
https://images.app.goo.gl/THWwuqTXjq9PuABi7 (https://images.app.goo.gl/THWwuqTXjq9PuABi7)
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In case it doesn't open
1 million seconds is about 11 days
1 billion seconds is about 31.5 Years
1 million minutes would takes us back 329 days 10 hours and 40 minutes
Whereas
1 billion minutes would take us back 1,902 years to around 120 ad
That's why people should be outraged at 37 billion squandered on T&T , and wonder who got all that money or where is it now
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Was anyone aware that the police had raided Mones home?
Not seen that on any TV news or have I not watched the right channels?
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No , I hadn't Rr . Suppressed by MSM ?
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I now see that Rich-ie is now being investigated by the Parliamentary Standards watchdog for not declaring an interest in his wifes childcare agency when they were handed out Government subsidies
Strangely not seen much on that either
This now makes 6 Tory MPs under investgation
Christopher Pincher
Steve Brine
Matt Hancock
Henry Smith
Scott Benton
Rishi Sunak
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Surely this can't be true, a Minister who regularly claims heating bills to live at her In Laws occasionally wouldn't try this?
Of course she would!
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Back to the PPE festival of fraud.
https://bylinetimes.com/2023/02/13/design-company-awarded-25m-ppe-contract-applies-to-be-struck-off-without-submitting-any-accounts/
New company, no employees, £25m govt VIP contract, 99% of the cash is missing, no accounts.......so where are the Serious Fraud Office?
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This gives more detail.
https://goodlawproject.org/revealed-greg-hands-referred-close-political-contact-for-25m-vip-contract/
In summary:
- Mark Higton was a friend of the Minister, Greg Hands
- The company Lux Lifestyle (that had no staff and wasn't trading) applied for VIP lane treatment for COVID PPE contracts.
- Higton, who had no official connection to Luxe Lifestyle, emailed Hands asking for support. Internal documents from the mistry repeatedly refer to the supplier as "Minister Hands/Luxe Lifestyle" https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ANzAyqVG3mLIqkwY6ggwhjkaMKfIzq66/view
- When the list of successful contractors was originally put on the Govt website, it referred to "Minster(sic) Hands" before being changed to "Luxe Lifestyle"
- After the contract was awarded, Higton set up three companies called "Luxe Life Care 1, 2 an 3". None of them has ever filed accounts. One has been dissolved and the other two have applied to be struck off.
- None of the PPE equipment Luxe Lifestyle was contracted to provide was ever used by the NHS.
There's so much of this that it is in danger of just being normalised.