UK council spending £250,000 of public money in a bid to silence a twitter blogger in US court.

www.dailymail.co.uk... -hide.html

Cllr Malcolm — in his early 40s — was perhaps the most persistent target of the Mr Monkey blogger who introduced himself on June 22, 2008, promising to provide a ‘unique glimpse of the world I inhabit. A world of intrigue, secrets, cunning, deceit, scheming treachery, debauchery, power struggles’.
The most serious accusation he levelled against Iain Malcolm is highlighted in the papers filed at the court in California. The following claim on the Mr Monkey blog has been categorically dismissed as a ‘false and defamatory statement’ by the people it targets:
‘Mr Monkey has been approached by a woman who claims to have an interesting story about councillor Iain Malcolm and some postal ballot papers. She claims that both she and her late husband witnessed Cllr Malcolm tampering with (postal) ballot papers at their house …’
The ballot papers were collected, it is alleged, on behalf of elderly residents in sheltered accommodation and residential homes during the May 2000 local elections. The couple who supposedly witnessed the ‘tampering’ were members of the local Labour party.

So once again we find those in power, abusing their status and then punishing those who speak out about them. I say fair play to this blogger and if it does turn out that the accusations of ballot paper tampering or vote rigging is true, then I expect the corrupt politician should do a nice stretch of jail time - as it is costing the voter lots of money.

Once again, I create this thread in a bid to highlight the corruption (and apologise for the daily mail link).

What are your thoughts?

reply to post by mr-lizard

and if it does turn out that the accusations of ballot paper tampering or vote rigging is true, then I expect the corrupt politician should do a nice stretch of jail time

And if it turns out it's not true and is in fact just malicious liable or an attempt by a political rival to damage the council? What happens then if it cannot be investigated because the accuser remains anonymous and out of reach of scrutiny?

If this person has good reason to allege corruption shouldn't he come forward and provide the evidence rather than hing behind his anonymity taking ineffectual pot shots?

By the way the link only take me to the Mail's main page.

WTF!
they can use the courts to cover up a crimb?
UK should have a court case against
The link seems to be gone?
no suprize!

As someone who has spent most of my adult life following what goes on at Bristol City Council through local press, I became convinced long ago that the arrogance of some of these councillors knows no bounds. Give them a little power to vote on local planning and spending issues, and in no time they seem to start acting as if they were running the parliamentary cabinet. The way some of them behave and speak, you'd think the City is here to serve them, and they really do sometimes seem perplexed that we're not all praising the Lord for delivering us to them.

Having people say not-nice things about you comes with the job of public/political office. If the said councillor(s) feels that affronted, let them take it to court and pay for it themselves.

And exactly how does this all cost £250,000? Its not just the politicians who are corrupt, its the lawyers and judges who charge excessive amounts of money.

You can write fiction or non-fiction in a blog, online, offline, in a book, a journal, in speaking, or however and wherever you wish. If someone wants to claim your story as fact in a court of law, the burden of proof is on them. Liable and Slander are abominations of free speech.

reply to post by mr-lizard

So once again we find those in power, abusing their status and then punishing those who speak out about them

your reaction - smaks of " i read it on the internet - and it panders to my pre-concieved notions - so it must be true " mentality

now seriously - come on why do you believe " mr - monkey " ????????

the allegations were actually orrigionally made in 2009 - that actually relate to events of over 10 years ago

the UK has a 12 month statute of limitations on electral corruption - but political parties can strill take disiplinary action at any time after an alledged offence

but guess what - cllr malcolm has represented his ward in every election since - and won

heres a hint - get evidence < 12 months old if you want to persue the matter

based on the evidence presented - i have no realistic way of determining if cllr malcolm is innocent or guilty

but as the alledged witnnesses against him dont actually bother to come forward promptly or make thier allegations directly to the proper UK authorities - then frankly the " case " stinks

The thing that’s strikes me as odd about this is that a Council cannot prosecute an individual for libel/slander etc… So what happens if they actually get the information they require? Will the individuals yet again use public money to prosecute this blogger? What an extreme waste of money when you consider that Khan / MrMonkey has stated he will go bankrupt if needs be.

What public services in Bristol are losing out because of this? The whole thing is a massive scandal.