PLEASE APPRECIATE THAT I GET SENT MORE INFORMATION AND LEADS THAN I CAN USE. I TRY TO RESPOND TO EVERYONE WHO CONTACTS ME BUT I CANNOT POSSIBLY USE EVERY BIT OF INFORMATION I’M SENT. DIOLCH YN FAWR
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You will recall that last week I planned on giving you a few reports from here and there, but one just grew to the point where it took over? Well, would you believe it – the same thing has happened again this week!
The purpose of this piece is two-fold. First, to bring you up to date with recent developments; second, to take a fuller look at the background and those involved in the recent acquisition of more land.
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BACKGROUND
To cut a long story short . . . Bryn Llys was a traditional smallholding near the village of Nebo, not far from Caernarfon. Then it was bought by a gang of fraudsters from West Yorkshire. To launder the proceeds of crime they went on a building spree.
The head of the gang is perhaps John Joseph Duggan. I say ‘perhaps’, because with him being in prison quite often, or on the run, business seems to be handled by his son, Jonathan James Duggan.
Because neither Duggan is officially supposed to have any money, Bryn Llys is, for the Land Registry record, owned by their associate Andrew Battye.
Explained in this piece from March, ‘Bryn Llys, unravelling’. (And earlier pieces. Just type ‘Bryn Llys’ into the search box atop the sidebar.)
Before going away for his most recent period of incarceration Duggan senior brought a bit of excitement to sleepy Benllech when police swooped to arrest him. (Police always ‘swoop’ in situations like that.)
They also paid a visit to Bryn Llys looking for him.
Duggan Senior has a long criminal record. And when he was sent down in 2005 his son – using the name Ripley – took over the family fraud business.
On paper, Battye is central to the whole operation, but in the real world, as observers testify, he cuts a rather sorry and peripheral figure. At best, a decoy; at worst – for him! – the fall guy.
Desperation to move money combined with a total absence of taste resulted in an ‘extension’ to Bryn Llys in a style that I would describe as Dickensian workhouse. This soon dwarfed the original building and it was put on the market last year – as ‘Snowdon Summit View’ – for £850,000.
There were no takers, so it went to auction in February with a guide price of £650,000. Again, no takers. There’s a lesson here, one that those involved may be too stupid to learn. So let me spell it out for them.
The reason they can’t find a buyer is that anyone making basic enquiries about Bryn Llys soon learns that there are enforcement notices and other legal issues hanging over this monstrosity. Then there are the disputes with neighbours . . . police raids . . .
And more recently, court appearances. (More about these later.)
This is trouble gang members have brought on themselves because they turned up in Nebo with a sack full of swag believing they could intimidate neighbours, bamboozle planners, and just steamroller their plans through.
Plans exposed by the formation in June last year of Bryn Llys Ltd, a company in the business of “Holiday centres and villages”.
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4 GLANRAFON TERRACE
Before bringing you up to date with the latest developments I need to delve a little deeper into the recent acquisition made by the gang. Some ten acres of land that came with the purchase of 4 Glanrafon Terrace. For this is central to the Duggans’ grand vision.
The recent changes are set out in the plans below, which will also give you the lie of the land. It might help if you keep this open in another window.
Plan 1 shows the boundaries of Bryn Llys, together with the access road, after it had been split into two titles with both, officially, held by Andrew Battye (Image: Ordnance Survey, Land Registry.) Here’s the title document for Bryn Llys, and here for the land adjoining.
Plan 2 shows the original boundary for 4 Glanrafon Terrace and the land attached. (Image: Ordnance Survey, Land Registry.) Here’s the title document.
Plan 3 shows the land, edged in red, sold to Jonathan Duggan following the purchase of 4 Glanrafon Terrace by Aaron Hill. (Image: Ordnance Survey, Land Registry.) Here’s the title document.
Plan 4 shows the new access road Jonathan Duggan has laid to Bryn Llys despite there being an enforcement notice against this work. (Image: JPJ Architectural Design, Llandudno.)
Although Duggan argues that he needs the new road for agricultural purposes, the Duggans know nothing about farming. Though, in fairness, a few cows have now appeared at Bryn Llys, with bovine recruits and established gang members staring at each other in mutual bewilderment.
Back to Glanrafon Terrace.
From around 2006 the house was home to Nicholas Brian Williams and David Brookwell. They eventually fell behind with their mortgage repayments and around March 14, 2018 the property was repossessed by lenders AMG.
But it was not straightforward. Security guards were needed on the property 24/7 to stop Jonathan Duggan taking over the adjoining land he claimed and laying the access road for which he had no planning permission.
There seems little doubt that once he realised their situation Jonathan Duggan homed in on Williams and Brookwell. They perhaps agreed to sell the land to him. Whatever agreement might have been made was made late in the day, with the vultures already circling.
After their home had been repossessed Nick Williams and David Brookwell were graciously allowed to live at Bryn Llys, but soon given the heave-ho when they were of no further use to Jonathan Duggan.
And now it gets really strange.
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LEGAL EAGLE
Some time after the property had been repossessed a document appeared claiming to show that Williams and Brookwell had entered into an agreement with Jonathan Duggan’s wife, Emma, and Andrew Battye, to sell them the land adjoining 4 Glanrafon Terrace. Read it here.
But the document threw up a number of questions.
Superficially, it looks the real deal. But it’s a document that can be found on sites like this, even the details can be filled in online before the form is downloaded.
In the accompanying e-mails you’ll see that the solicitor acting for Jonathan Emma Duggan and Andrew Battye was Kathryn Elizabeth Parry of Parry and Co Solicitors Limited of Liverpool.
This company has been in liquidation for over a year.
I’m not sure it ever did much business, and it seems to have been stripped before the liquidator arrived. For if you check the liquidator’s statement from July, under ‘Asset realisations’, you’ll see ‘Nil’ recorded against fixtures and fittings, motor vehicles and computer equipment.
Which might suggest that Kate Parry travelled everywhere by bus and did all her business face to face and by word of mouth. That’s not true, of course, but the liquidator’s report is worth reading.
According to her Linkedin profile Kate landed on her feet, for she is now a senior solicitor at Victor Welsh Solicitor & Notary Public. I can’t find a website other than this, possibly because the company was only formed last October.
An unusual move you might think for a man of 73 years.
Though perhaps I’m being a little unfair, for according to Companies House Vic is a Renaissance businessman. Being a past or present director of investment vehicles, buy-to-rent companies, residential homes and a golf club.
It is suspected the document alleging an agreement between the Bryn Llys gang and the residents of 4 Glanrafon Terrace was concocted when it became obvious that repossession was in the offing. And backdated to November 2013.
Because that date is within weeks of Duggan turning up at Bryn Llys, and before Williams and Brookwell could have known him, so why would they enter into such an agreement? Especially as repossession was a long way away.
And if Duggan really had that agreement in writing since November 2013 why did he spend the next few years making life hell for other neighbours demanding they make him concessions he already had?
The document is also suspect because it clearly wasn’t proof-read by a solicitor, or anyone else. A quick flick through turned up a number of curiosities.
For example, On page 3 I see, “Miss Emma Duggan”, but she’s Jonathan Duggan’s wife. Isn’t she?
At 4.2 a, we read “land adjourning 4 glanarfon terrace”.
The addresses for the four parties involved, and the dates on which it’s suggested they signed, were written by the same hand.
The only address and dates in a different hand are those for the witness – an odd-job man who works for Jonathan Duggan.
A half-decent lawyer would have fun with that document.
But it’s when I looked more closely into Kate Parry’s associations that the old Jac eyes opened wide.
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MERSEYSIDE BUSINESSMEN
Let’s go back to Kate Parry’s company, Parry & Co Solicitors Ltd. When we click on the ‘Charges’ tab we bring up three loans.
One came directly from Lee James Spencer, who was a director of Parry & Co in 2013/14. Another from LJS Corporate Projects Ltd, a company started by Spencer where Parry was a director. The third is Mass Medical Solutions Ltd, another Spencer company, this one in liquidation.
Clearly, there is some relationship between Parry and Spencer. So who is he?
In the caption to a photograph in this report from the Echo he is described as a “Liverpool businessman”.
The project discussed in the Echo report is Chinatown, located between the Anglican cathedral and the waterfront. It’s a project that has not gone smoothly. In fact, Chinatown is one of a number of major projects in central Liverpool that have either ground to a halt or collapsed altogether.
Make sure you read it in full. It’s a great piece of reporting, the kind of thing we never get from the mainstream media in Wales.
Things got so bad that in 2017 Liverpool City Council referred the New Chinatown project to the National Crime Agency, perhaps under pressure from investors in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and elsewhere who were beginning to realise they’d been taken for a ride by certain ‘Liverpool businessmen’.
Among the companies mentioned as having taken Far Eastern investors’ money and then gone bust is North Point Global Limited, formed in 2015 by Lee James Spencer. We also find Spencer as a director at China Town Development Company Ltd.
Although he doesn’t appear as a director of these Spencer companies Peter McInnes was definitely involved, as this report from the Echo makes clear.
“Mr McInnes became one of the biggest players in Liverpool’s vibrant regeneration scene through prominent roles at development firms PHD1 and North Point Global.
He spoke out on behalf of both companies as they embarked on plans to transform Liverpool city centre, with his quotes appearing on press releases marking key stages of projects with a projected value of more than £320m.
They included the New Chinatown deal for proposals for 800 homes, 200,000 sq ft of shops and the creation of as many as 1,000 jobs in a massive scheme set to lie in the shadow of the Anglican Cathedral.”
Yet despite that write-up McInnes prefers to take a back seat. We see PHD1 mentioned in the Echo report. There are a string of PHD companies where McInnes’ interests are represented by his sister, Julie Caroline McInnes.
Then there’s North Point (Pall Mall) Ltd where I found (son?) Joshua McInnes.
Though I’m sure it’s the headline to the story that caught your eye. You can almost hear the kiddies in the audience shouting back – ‘Oh yes you do!’ Bless ’em!
So let’s recap.
The Bryn Llys gang holds a remarkable document proving that Jonathan Duggan is the true Tsar of All the Russias . . . or at least he might have some sort of arrangement to buy a few acres near his demesne.
To promote this claim the Bryn Llys gang chose a Liverpool solicitor who keeps very racy company indeed. But how did it come about?
For Kate Parry was running a shoestring outfit few people had heard of, and may have existed primarily to serve Lee James Spencer. Duggan is from West Yorkshire with, as far as I’m aware, no Merseyside connections. So how did they find each other?
You may be thinking along similar lines to me, so we’ll leave it there for the time being.
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JONATHAN DUGGAN HAS HIS DAY(S) IN COURT
The Bryn Llys Gang was in court a few weeks ago and found guilty of breaching an enforcement notice. Jonathan Duggan was bound over for 12 months, Battye for 9 months, and Emma Duggan for 6 months.
It was reported, ‘The judge added Mr Battye, who owned the building and continues to pay the mortgage, had “lost interest in the property and washed his hands of his responsibilities.”‘
Think about that for a minute. Here’s a man who’s bought a large property on which he’s still paying the mortgage. People he’s generously allowed to live there are behaving as if they own the place, and his only response is to shrug his shoulders!
How about . . . Battye doesn’t own Bryn Llys, and he never did.
The ‘architect’ shown in the picture is Scott Smith, half-brother to Jonathan Duggan. For a while Smith had his own company, Diseno Ltd, which drew up the plans used in the alleged ‘agreement’.
Smith now works for C K Architectural of Hull. This company is run by Christian Lawson, who had his own day in court a couple of years back.
The day after the family gathering in Llandudno Magistrates Court Jonathan Duggan was back for breaching an enforcement notice regarding an unauthorised bridge on the newly-acquired land. He lost, again.
The reason Battye wasn’t in court for the second hearing was because the new land is owned by Jonathan Duggan. But it’s not that simple.
For after 4 Glanrafon Terrace failed to sell at the Paul Fosh auction earlier this year it was bought by Aaron Hill, another Englishman being victimised in Wales. And then, Hill loaned Duggan £50,000 to buy the land from him!
Because as I keep telling you – Duggan doesn’t officially have any money!
Though, thinking of money . . . in the ‘agreement’ we see £5,500 mentioned, this being the figure Emma Duggan and Andrew Battye were to pay for the land. Yet Duggan claims to have paid Hill £50,000. So either he was cheated or Williams and Brookwell were going to be cheated.
I wonder . . .
It’s all so complicated, and failure to understand the complexities of Bryn Llys may have led to JPJ Architectural making a howler. Go back to plan 4 above, and in the legend on the right you’ll read: “Blue line represents Bryn Llys site boundary prior to purchasing the additional land”.
But the new land does not form part of Bryn Llys. They’re two separate titles. Bryn Llys is owned by Andrew Battye and the new land by Jonathan Duggan – bought with a loan from Aaron Hill! Officially.
Though you have to wonder why Hill bought the property at all. Did Duggan give him the money to make the purchase?
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SHAKIN’ SHANE
One not mentioned in the court reports, but who deserves recognition, is Shane Baker. It was Baker who got me interested in Bryn Llys when, on Twitter a couple of years ago, he called me “a right cunt”. (I had to rummage in my drawers for great-aunt Fastidia’s smelling salts after reading that!)
Shane is a BritNat of the variety that believes people like him, the Duggans, Aaron Hill, Paul Williams, Gavin Lee Woodhouse, Myles Cunliffe, et al should be able to stomp into Wales and do what they damn well like because they are English and we are mere Welsh.
Shane Baker lives on the Bryn Llys site, in a large caravan. His role is to flog off goods, equipment, machinery, etc., that the Duggans have obtained but have no intention of paying for. This being their modus operandi.
And we are not talking small items from Amazon left in the porch. One excavator caused a hell of a lot of damage as it was being removed. This may be another reason Duggan wants a new access – so he can order, not pay for, and flog off, even bigger machinery!
Baker made a few comments to the Daily Post report on the first court appearance as ‘Shakingshane’ (for he is a performer in the Rock ‘n’ Roll genre). “The council up to there old tricks again , there all bent”, he sagely contributed.
Before washing up in Gwynedd Shane Baker lived in south west England where he amused himself – and indeed others – as vocalist for a band called Kabinrock. If you feel up to it, here’s a video of him jumping around at a wedding reception.
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THOUGHTS
Getting the gang into court over planning issues is progress, I suppose. But the real crimes are still going unpunished.
Pressure must now be maintained; by neighbours, council, and police. There are weak links in this chain that might crack under pressure. And when they do, they’ll have a lot to say.
Also, let’s make sure that no local suppliers or contractors deal with the Bryn Llys gang. Neighbours were disappointed to see a Llŷn contractor working on the unauthorised access track. I’m sure he now knows what sort of people he’s been dealing with.
Jonathan Duggan’s attitude to life is to ignore rules, laws, and all decent forms of human behaviour; to push a situation as far as he can to his advantage and then stand back and say – ‘Well, what are you gonna to do about it?’ Let’s show him what we’re going to do about it.
Because what sort of country is Wales that it attracts and tolerates people like this, and allows them to prosper? Obviously, a homeland over which we Welsh have no real control. It’s time to change that, for this and so many other reasons.
Finally, there’s always room on my stack of solicitors’ letters for one more. So I’ll say it again: Jonathan James Duggan is a liar, a bully, and a crook.
♦ end ♦
Watched the first 15 mins or so of S4C’s Pawb a’i Farn last night, with another 20 mins this morning, which promised to tackle the problems of second homes, holiday homes and the tourism industry. Got seriously irritated as it was soon into generating heat rather than light although the young lady from Llandysul spoke well drawing from her experience in her own patch and Rhys from Nefyn seemed to offer a lot of sense based on personal exposure to this major social problem. I had to laff ( only alternative was to brick the TV) when they included a member of staff from a social housing charade/charity to wax lyrical. These fuckers have a serious interest in displacing people out of their communities as they can get access to funds from government to keep people in their place. The other guy in the studio sounded like he was fresh out of the UKIP/Brexit/BNP policy camp, and dear old Rhun did his usual show of caring and intensity. Again more heat than light.
I suspect that these topics will become fashionable subject matters for hot air shows but next to nothing will get done about them. More evidence that the latest phase of colonisation is going to proceed with only minor obstacles in its way.
Young Rhys talked sense, the Jersey/Guernsey system was briefly aired, but I got no reassurance from squirmy Eluned Morgan on her big TV screen, and, yes, an overheated Rhun let out copious amounts of steam through his nostrils. Like Dafis, I’m only halfway through it, though, so hopefully that tourism guy will get pummelled before the end of the show. Betsan Powys looked fetching in leggings and ankle boots.
At least they’re actually debating the issue on the media, but it needs a bigger stage and an anglophone audience as well, otherwise it’ll be in the long grass after a pretend-debate in the Senedd, with few the wiser outside the affected areas.
Off- Topic. There is currently a proposal by the English government to dump hundreds of fake asylum seekers at an under-used MoD barracks near Penalun in Sir Penfro. This has led to a huge demonstration of concerned local residents and a Ukip member of the Senedd driving to the site from his home in Wiltshire.
https://www.tenby-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=129473&headline=%E2%80%9CWe%20
The proposal is to accommodate those who have recently arrived from France on the coast of Kent having traversed the English Channel in rigid inflatable boats supplied by people traffickers.
This is not the only vacant MoD barracks being considered. Both under consideration are used as temporary accommodation, usually a week at a time, where army recruits to mainly infantry regiments conduct target practice are a nearby firing range.
The other one is at Folkestone in Kent, a few hundred yards from where most of these fake asylum seekers made landfall. It’s called Napier. In Kent, the reaction has been swift with the local Tory MP, and LibDem and Labour councillors writing letters to the Home Office in London objecting and calling for them to be sent ‘somewhere else’.
https://twitter.com/DamianCollins/status/1305785020125270017/photo/1
How will it work?
MoD barracks are not suitable for housing civilians because when used to accommodate military personnel on temporary assignment they undergo a rather Spartan regime as part of the training. Cold showers, pop-up mess facility, carried bedding and a form of social isolation designed to mimic potential deployment on the battlefield.
There is a company employed by the MoD when they ‘dispose of barrack assets’ as redundant facilities. This outfit converts the site, usually by demolishing the mizzen huts and building proper civilian housing for the rental market, prior to asset disposal, usually as social housing, on contract to the highest bidder, usually to London boroughs, evicting any existing tenants.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/families-anguish-over-looming-eviction-threat-233895/
The company directors of the group undertaking are located in Singapore (banking), Guernsey (tax haven) and former Labour MP from Scotland who sit in the House of Lords having been evicted by the SNP (twice).
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08271384/officers
The MoD does not have the legal remit to provide accommodation to non-military personnel. It is done through this arrangement. The facility in Pembrokeshire could be used as temporary accommodation by disposal through this route, the final destination being re-settlement housing, not for the fake asylum seekers, but for London overspill of undesirable UK nationals. No knuckle dragging was conducted in this research.
You will know that this is about to become reality when Transport for Wales improve rail services out of South West Wales so that the asylum seekers, fake or otherwise, can jump ship, hop on a train to London to be reunited with their network of chums. Those needing to go to West Yorks or East Lancs can get on the Milford – Manchester cross country or whatever connection that may have replaced it. You are correct in your observation that the ultimate goal of this proposed change of use is to re-home choice cuts of England’s demographic mainly from London but with a dash of flavours from other metropolitan authorities.
Still, that could damage the second homes market in that area, but I would sooner rely on a revival of Meibion to drive that change.
Someone has suggested on Twitter that the arrival of this new workforce should be matched with those OPD types pursuing lucrative careers in England during the week.
This new workforce will be happier in areas where there’s ample opportunities for grooming of young (white) girls and compliant eager to please ( or ignore) Labour councillors. Bussing them up into the heart of Preseli to make mud bricks and hand pick vegetables will not chime with these guys.
These ‘asylum seekers’ are not a workforce, they are a workshy.
The current situation in over the channel, from the Mosel to the Loire, is that vineyards are desperate for ‘thinning labour’, this is where bunches of grapes are snipped off manually to boost the final growth spurt of remaining bunches ready for harvesting. It’s a stage in the process that has not been mechanised. There’s been a dearth of seasonal labourers from eastern Europe because of Covid, so the French employment law has been modified to allow ‘alien migrants’ to earn a packet in these vineyards. A few weeks work, accommodation provided, and an opportunity to secure French, and therefore EU, citizenship. Many do, if fact local municipalities have made specific arrangements to take families from the refugee camp on Lesbos.
Those that have crossed the English channel by unorthodox methods are already part of international criminal gangs from which they receive sponsorship and crossing vessels.
The final destination of the Penally Barracks, after the ‘asylum seekers’ are evicted is likely to be private housing with a price tag far in excess of local attainment. I suspect that Annington, the MoDs property agents, will deal with the site.
https://suite.endole.co.uk/insight/people/10389479-mr-nicholas-peter-vaughan
Example – In 2001, Annington applied for planning permission which was granted by the Brecon Beacons National Park on for 35 dwellings and following demolition an army barracks. It was previously known as Dan y Gollen, near Crug Hywel. It was developed in 2003/4. Some of the new houses on the site, now known as Martell Way, are held as quarters for married army personnel and retained by the MoD. The others were sold off as private market housing, and currently have a market value of around £300k each.
I’ve received an e-mail from one of Simon Hart’s constituents following a letter from Hart. In it Hart says, ‘Since this issue became public, the Home Office has created what they call the “Asylum Accommodation Strategic Group for Wales” which includes the local council, health board, police, Public Health Wales, Welsh Government, Wales Office and others. It is worth remembering that the Home Office has extensive legal powers in this policy area.’
There’s already a pre-existing arrangement for Wales, it was set up by the Home Office in 2019 and they awarded a contract to Clearsprings Ready Homes.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-asylum-accommodation-contracts-awarded
They tell us that “as a provider of accommodation services to the Home Office since 2000, we are delighted to be working with UK Visas and Immigration for a further 5 years as one of three prime contractors. Clearsprings Ready Homes Ltd (Ready Homes) is now providing the accommodation and transport services in both the London & South and the Wales regions.”
http://ready-homes.co.uk/
This “Asylum Accommodation Strategic Group for Wales” is obviously an afterthought when the people of Penally demonstrated last week. The Welsh Government, the council and all local elected representatives were not informed.
I don’t think Hart is made of the kind of stuff that withstands the wishes of his “superiors” no matter how harmful they may be to his constituents. “Obedient servant” writ large all over his forehead. This is what you get when there is a change in the demographic within a constituency, but a decision such as this may yet see them resort to self interest and punish him at the next election.
As winter approaches, and Covid looms alongside it, a large number of tai haf/ second homes/holiday lets/ airbnb lets will be at risk of being empty for weeks, nay months. Now how’s about being a truly welcoming nation of sanctuary and let refugees,asylum seekers, and any other immigrant whose status has not been finalised occupy these premises until next spring ? Far more welcoming than shutting them in a camp with the ambience of a clink ? By say Easter 2021 they will have made choices about which part of metropolitan England they wish to settle into. Owners of these “sanctuary” properties will then occupy the moral high ground while they spend weeks refitting their islands of tranquility. Happy endings.
There is a myth that most are fleeing Syria or Libya. The top ten countries of origin in 2019 was Iran, Albania, Iraq, Pakistan, Eritrea, Afghanistan, India, Vietnam and China. While applying for asylum, 94% of claimants, 41,388 people, were Section 95, in receipt of both accommodation (social housing) and subsistence (benefits). These would not be housed in military barracks, nor homeless, nor destitute. 4,077 were Section 4, allowed to reside in the homes of wealthy relatives not eligible for benefits.
The pre-Covid asylum statistics published by the Westminster Government is here.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2020/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to
There is a myth that asylum seekers were held in ‘detention centres’. These are people where the claim has failed and awaiting repatriation.
The ‘surge’ in boat arrivals is due to repatriation not being possible due to Covid and the traffickers taking advantage of this opportunity. These are to people who will be accommodated at Penally. The majority of these will disappear, off the radar of the ‘signing on’ process. These are people who have NOT claimed asylum (Section 95 above) or are uncooperative with the process, many of whom have previously been deported and re-entered, and will be free to leave at any time.
This has implications for the transmission of Covid-19 within the community.
I wrote this yesterday on the Borthlas webite in response to an article written by JD :
” authoritarian, incoherent, lacking specific direction – these are all characteristics of a kind of unwelcome style of government but I doubt whether we are yet into anything like full on Fascism. There again you are never likely to recognise such an extreme until it has you in its grip, unlike the old style authoritarian shit which relied on a series of events, as in Italy and Germany, or full blown revolutions in the case of China and USSR.
We are now paying for the gift of a large majority in a GE which gives the culprits the defence of democratic process. We are becoming aware slowly how undemocratic our democracy is in reality but things will need to change before there is any real reduction in democratic deficit. Sadly Middle England, which is a large proportion of the electorate, seems content to let Johnson and Co have their way but things will change when the cost of their misconducts comes home to roost.”
Perhaps resort to the use of the F word is too easy even for bright stable guys like J.D. However he was writing about the general malaise that is currently found in the English dominated U.K government. On reflection he and others might be better advised to refer to it as a “corruptly-inclined corporatist state. Public funds are being redirected into favoured private coffers at an unrivaled rate – this is theft despite the “cover story” that much of it is aimed at delivering a defence against Covid, or “a world class infrastructure – HS2 !, or “best in class defence”- next generation Trident. The lies are getting bigger and somewhere down the track the criminals will have to switch to a full-on authoritarian/dictatorial mode to avoid the inevitable answerability to the public.
How does this relate to Bryn Llys ? Despite the evident deviance, possibly criminality of this mob these are good examples of the kind of businessmen who occupy the outer perimeters and beyond of legit commerce in the U.K but are commonly found among the membership of the Party and other influential bodies such as the funny handshake sect. These will be given free hand to loot and profit as long as the more “respectable” institutions profit from their endeavours.
I wouldn’t compare the small-time crooks at Bryn Llys with the major players benefiting from Conservative government, but what does link them is the general attitude towards fraud, corruption and white collar crime in general. The attitude seems to be that as long as nobody is killed and no animals are hurt then you could do just about anything to make money. The only time that doesn’t hold is when too many are ripped off – especially elderly people – and the case gets taken up by the media. ‘Something must be done!’
And as I’ve reported a number of times, Companies House is just a filing system. As long as you submit something – anything! – on time, then CH will accept it and you’re in compliance.
There’s one case I’ve been looking into not far from Bryn Llys.
There was a news item about five holiday properties up for sale at Beddgelert for £1.2m. The properties are owned by Glaslyn Leisure Ltd. According to the latest accounts filed with Companies House the Freehold property is valued at £435,432. With a net book value of £274,048.
Somehow, these properties have been losing value year on year, yet the price being asked is way above the valuation. Either these properties are undervalued for tax or other purposes, or else they’re overvalued with the sale price. I suspect the former. But who cares?
It’s all part of the same cultural standard no matter whether the criminals are small time “business” or global corporates. The underlying driver is money, greed triumphs over any notion of service or value for money. Hence the rip off attitudes of so many businesses, the appetite for looting grants and government loans on spurious pretexts, and willingness of institutions to launder proceeds of crime into ventures such as housing. Tories have gone along with it quite happily, Labour created much of the climate that favoured spivs during the later years of the Blair/Brown tenure and are still trying to duck out, while the other parties just engage in serious hand wringing while regretting missing out on donations !
Dafis – The reason why Bryn Llys did not sell at auction is because it’s worthless.
Global corporate entities have their own ‘cultural standards’. By adopting such standards they are able to leverage long term profits, which isn’t necessarily the cheapest product or most dodgy business practices.
Quick example. A Welshman, a Frenchman, and a German walk into a bar in Athens. This is no joke. All three worked for a Japanese company which had it’s own cultural standards. At issue was adhering to corporation tax requirements across all nation states of the EU. The fax from Tokyo made it very clear that as part of global responsibility all necessary domestic laws would be followed and there’d be no use of offshore use of tax havens. All liability on turnover within each nation state would be honoured. In the Greek bar was a tax official. After the consumption of vast qualities of ice cream and nibbles, and declining a trip on the yacht, the cheque was handed over. This was unexpectedly regarded as insult to the custom and practice of the country concerned. It took almost as long to correctly pay the correct tax known to be owed in Greece as it did to not pay the tax known to be not owed in France.
I was that Welshman.
If a Yakimoto goes back to the board meeting in Tokyo saying they’ve been offered a grant from the Welsh Government to build a factory, it’s received with the same distain as if it was a brown envelope handed over from a spiv in a cheap suit in Lagos. The first question they will ask is, why the bribe, and how safe is the investment.
This blog records an example. Plas Glynllifon would make one of the best premium hotels in Europe, but no global corporate is going to invest £100m in the asset, which is what it takes, with the current slice and dice, with legal difficulties. No functional business environment is available from either the Welsh Government or local authority. £10 a night tourist tax is not relevant. The important feature is surety of freehold, stable cost base, and a consistent (reliable) planning regime.
The question we should be asking now, in Wales, is not just ridding ourselves of the crooks, but the advantages of implementing good governance. This in itself will evict the undesirables, and we are left with only one thing – opportunity.
Fact remains that too much of “business” in Wales is attractive to the spiv/shyster demographic and these people are borderline attractive to or in membership of the English Tory Party and are thus tolerated. At the same time the lazy Welsh Labour Party and their alickadoos find such chancers eminently acceptable because they reduce the need for application of brains and effort in attracting the much vaunted “inward investment”.
However, as You, I and many others on this site know damn well there is very little real investment, most of it is about getting funds out of Welsh Government and rolling the dice. Any hard work is limited to choosing sites for likes of Skates to do their bit in front of a camera when announcing the latest bit of good news, and later on carefully scripting of the damage limitation statements when said investment goes tits up, or never even materialises.
Spivs and shysters only operate in the ponds that give them sustenance. The reason why Duggan and co came to Wales is because if they practiced their craft in Liverpool they’d end up chopped into pieces and dumped in the Mersey. Wales accommodates them.
(a) The Tory party is no longer the party of business and enterprise. It’s a repository of dodgy spivs, land speculators, city traders and public school misfits. Don’t forget the ‘Fuck Business’ quote of Boris Johnson accidentally recorded over the dinner table on the subject of motor manufacture, the issue of electric car plant investment was the subject in hand. The difference between Duggan and Jake Berry is a better lawyers and a few extra brain cells.
(b) The Labour Party is also no longer the party of the workers, to better the lot of ordinary working people through trade unions and working class representation. It’s a repository of middle class third sector parasites and comfy virtue signallers. They are the ones who have bank accounts where public funds originally destined to alleviate poverty is banked. This ‘space’ in politics is also occupied by Plaid Cymru in Wales mainly because they are afraid of independence and responsibilities.
On home turf, the reason why Neil McEvoy and the Welsh National Party is constantly vilified by the (b) above, is because he truly represents the wishes and aspirations or the people, and for reasons of (a) that also involves a stand for the national sovereignty of Wales. Thing is, it’s the space where the majority of Welsh people reside, north and south, urban and rural, all tones of skin, and both languages.
I suspect that the elections in 2021 will turn up a good few surprises.
All this is pretty much par for the course. There are two related problems here: some people think they’re above the Law; they’re right.
By the way, American friends have given me the lowdown on that alleged Teddy Roosevelt quotation.
Only “alleged”?
‘Alleged’ at best. It isn’t in any of TR’s published works. Furthermore, it uses the word ‘liberal’ in a sense not current until decades after his death: the word used at the time was ‘progressive’, which TR proudly declared himself to be. Finally, there seems to be no trace of this canard longer ago than some ten years. Verb. sap.
Ah! but it’s the sort of thing he would have said.
No. As I’ve explained, he’d no more have said such a thing than Albert Einstein would have alleged that the moon is made of green cheese.
If, of course, you genuinely believe it to be the case that a conservative is angered by lies, and a liberal by the truth, by all means publish this allegation – but you *must* sign it with your own name.
By the same token, I might see fit to publish over the Internet the allegation that the moon is made of green cheese. Whatever well-informed people thought of me, they would think even worse of me were I to attribute it to Professor Einstein and append a photograph of him.
Gair i gall – dyma gyfle i adfer d’enw da.
But I nicked that image off of the internet in good faith!
In that case, you’ll be keen to buy some magic beans which I can source for you. Just transfer €20,000 to the account of the Mellifont-Stifftung (Europa) SA, Quatschgaße 23, Lichtenstein, and your beans will be delivered to your door by one of our couriers.
As a matter of principle, I couldn’t possibly deal in Euros.
Make that US$30,000, and your beans will be delivered in a tasteful casket hand-wrought from sturdy laminated double-strength Ryvita. For best results, plant on Walpurgisnacht in a year whose binary equivalent when transliterated spells an anagram of ‘Alun Cairns’.
I could never work out that date so an outlay of $30,000 would be foolish.
As TR himself put it: ‘The Internet is like the New Dworkin Times-Advocate – you can’t believe half of what you read on it.’
I’ll put that on my sidebar!
I fear you have made an error in this blog post Jac. You show a photo and claim it shows Emma Duggan, Johnathon Duggan, an architect, and Andrew Battye outside Llandudno magistrates court.
This is obviously wrong.
There must have been other cases on that day.
Looks to me like a woman being done for shoplifting Smirnoff, a lardy bouncer from Witherspoons, a second hand car ringer and that junkie in the anorak smokes weed outside Rhyl train station asking people if they’ve got spare change.
Sack your photographer.
I know what you mean. And Battye certainly looks like a resident of Rhyl.
If that development broke the rules it should be demolished at the owner’s expense just to send out a message. Something like that happened in Spain a few years ago and the Brits involved at that time just bleated that they didn’t understand the rules ! Perhaps they should have read them first or got a local to translate the bloody things.
Unfortunately too many people like Duggan know they can do what they like and just claim retrospective planning permission. As I say of Duggan, he does what he wants and then says, “What you gonna do about it?” But you’re right, a few compulsory demolitions would have a marked effect.
Jac, what’s the latest on the Duggan/Bryn Llys story? You were following it so closely, and residents of Nebo were counting on you for honest reporting – but all seems to have gone quiet. They were ordered to demolish the bridge. Did that happen? Did the council or ‘powers that be’ enforce the court ruling?
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