It is often the case in politics that when lawyers get involved in pursuit of their clients interests, against the wishes of a reluctant party, when it becomes public it doesn’t look good to say the least and is often totally unacceptable, politically!
Rotherham has, it would appear, a good example of just such a case.
Jahangir Akhtar joined labour as an adult in 1990 and despite apparently, the handicap of a prior conviction, now spent, was elected to RMBC as a labour councillor in 2000.
In 2001 Akhtar, his brother and his son were arrested in a Rotherham restaurant. In 2002 they were convicted at Hull Crown Court together with others, of affray. Akhtar escaped a prison sentence, after he produced a vast number of testimonial character references, which impressed the Judge.
Labour suspended him from the Labour Group Whip but not apparently, his labour membership. Although expected to fall on his sword and resign from the Council, upon conviction, he somewhat stubbornly remained on RMBC until his term of office expired in May 2004. Labour fielded an alternative candidate and that was expected to be that!
In plenty of time for the May 2006 elections, Akhtar, had persuaded the labour party that he should be allowed back on the council, after he deployed every weapon of persuasion, in his armoury. He returned to the council, he was re-elected in 2010 and his current term of office expires 2014.
Jahangir Akhtar joined the Police Authority and has been appointed to the new replacement, the Police & Crime Panel. The role of this committee is to support the Police & Crime Commissioner and Akhtar was it’s interim Chair on it’s inception and appointed Vice Chair after it’s first full meeting. At some point around this time, Akhtar’s involvement was apparently referred to and examined in detail by the Police Professional
Standards Department. They concluded at the time that, he is entitled to hold the position. Section 80 (1) (d) Local Government Act 1972 refers, apparently?
This is where the story ends up with our original question, What may be perfectly legal but totally unacceptable politically?
This is the perfect example of this phenomenon in action, it’s a bit like POA on a menu, if you have got to ask the price, you can’t afford it. So it is in this particular case, if they had to check to see if Akhtar was permitted to serve, with the Professional Standards Department, it might have warned someone that his membership of the Police & Crime Panel might not be the smartest idea?
Akhtar has, over the years, acquired two convictions the second for a crime of violence! This alone should have raised alarm bells and the best advice would have been a quiet strategic withdrawal. But no, Akhtar pressed on and, to add insult to injury, is the Police & Crime Panel Vice Chair!
Many readers of Rotherham Politics must be left scratching their heads, at this outrageous situation. Has this man no sense of how this looks outside the Town Hall? Disgraceful arrogance on the part of the labour cabal in the Town Hall, coupled with Akhtar’s hubris.
Back by popular demand: http://twitter.yfrog.com/0lv63lkcvnbonyqalnovcscwz
Rotherham Politics 
Dear RothPol … and your exact point is what?
Is it that you don’t like the Councillor under discussion, or the fact that he’s made some mistakes for which he’s been punished by society.
Surely if you are a Christian I would have thought that you would celebrate someone who has been reconciled and reformed and returned to active public life?
IMHO you seem to be on some sort of vendetta against this individual and I just can’t understand why.
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As an atheist I find someone playing the religious card as objectionable as someone
playing the race card and from personal experience I know that Ahktar is a prolific race-card player. This person is one of our ward councillors, so perhaps you will excuse me for taking an interest in what he does. Every one does deserves a second chance, but as displayed by his behaviour at the recent candidate selection meeting he is still a thug and a bully! The real politik is the tactics of the Asians in this very Labour town are obviously to join the Labour party en masse and in so doing propose one of their own ( it’s irrelevant to them if he has a criminal record for violence as long as he is an Asian ) and then out vote the indiginous candidate, which they tried to do with Shaukat Ali being proposed to replace the late Councillor Eric Manns. The people who are to blame for this sate of affairs are the apathetic indiginous people of this town!
As far as I am concerned Pakistanis who are convicted of serious crimes should have their citizenship revoked and be deported.We have enough criminals of our own without importing them! Ahktar and the enobled fishfryer Lord “Killer” Ahmed should have both been sent out of the country, but Ahmed is back in the Lords drawing £300 per day and most of his utterances there are concerning Asian and Muslim matters. Is it any wonder they think we are mugs!
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Think you need to get a new Halloween outfit my friend because your racist vaneer is starting to shine through carefully choses words to give you some semblance of credibility. Is there a reason you so vehemently dislike like “Pakistanis” and “Asains”? What exactly is your problem with them? And before your accuse me of using the race card I am a member of the “apathetic indigenous people” you refer to, and I can smell a racist knuckle dragger a mile of. Shall we only revoke British citizenship of Muslim and Asain who are convicted or does it also apply to white people to have made Britain their home and took on British citizenship? I am surprised Rothpol hasallowed such a carefully disguised racist rant to be published.
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I am sorry my response to your comment took a little time. I must admit your comment left me more than a little perplexed. My response to your comment is as follows:
Rothpol’s personal feelings are not relevant here, Rothpol does not take sides! If we were partisan, quite rightly in my view, Rothpol’s credibility would be gone in minutes! We don’t choose the stories, we just report them!
I must confess that my opinions of Jahangir were significantly altered, when Jahangir phoned me for the last time. He harangued me and verbally threatened and tried to intimidate me, with all manner of threats, including legal action for defamation. I now take the view that he continues to be a thug and a bully to this day. Rothpol has now experienced some of this serious flaw, for himself!
Reformed? Are you having a laugh!
As for religion, what has that got to do with it? We do not do religion on here, but politics. The clue is in the name.
Vendetta’s? That, I am happy to leave to Jahangir, he’s far better at them, than me!
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During the hearing of bringing the council into disrepute in front of the council’s Standards Board, Akhtar and his family was referred to has a bunch of thugs. After the charge was upheld by the board Ahktars brother Sabir telephoned the person who brought the charge to say that he and his family weren’t happy at being reffered to as thugs and stated he was a mashall arts instructor and a kick boxing champion! No actual threat was made but the implication was there! Akhtar – this man who had pleaded guilty to the thuggish act of affray – speaking to a reporter of the “Star”- actually threatened to sue me for slander for daring to refer to him as a thug!. This was published in the paper at that time. For some reason the “Tizer” did not carry this story! Of course nothing came of this! I already knew we were dealing with people who had no principles, but the Akhtar family’s behaviour, when compared to that of Councillor Jim Wright who had resigned from the council for making a threat, confirmed what an unpricipled bunch of rogues they are. IMHO Ahktar should not be any where near Rotherham council. That a rogue like him is on the council really reflects very badly on an already badly tarnished party in this town.
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“Surely if you are a Christian I would have thought that you would celebrate someone who has been reconciled and reformed and returned to active public life?”
Religion shouldn’t come into the equation, common sense should. We expect our elected officials to behave in a manner that befits. When they are found lacking we expect them to step down from office. Jahangir Akhtar was convicted of a violent crime. He should not be allowed to sit on the Police & Crime Panel, end of. Would you give a child minding job to a convicted paedophile just because he’s done his time and says he’s sorry? No, you wouldn’t. So who exactly thought it’d be a good idea to let a man convicted of affray sit on the Police & Crime Panel? It beggars belief.
I am somewhat surprised Grald, that you seem to be defending the man so. Is he not one of the “Rovrum Laybah cornfed muppets, grunters and clowns at RMBC” that you slate at every opportunity? Could that not be construed as vendetta also?
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If the rules don’t specifically prohibit or forbid him from sitting on the panel or being a Councillor then he is as eligible as any other elected member to sit on it.
If you don’t agree with that then by all means remonstrate with RMBC and those who selected him for that position.
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The rules didn’t prohibit MPs from renting off each other when they already had homes, but that doesn’t make it right does it? And as for remonstrating with RMBC, experience has shown that there’s little point really. Cllr Akhtar doesn’t represent my ward (lucky for me) so one can only hope that he gets voted out next time around, ‘Cos it doesn’t look like the local Labour group wants rid of him any time soon.
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Graldhunter, I’m not sure where you are coming from but, Akhtar didn’t make mistakes, he proved himself to be a calculating bully of the first order. He collected his “gang”, members of his family, and like all cowards, deliberately set out to use force against someone he disliked. You know, just like the Cray twins did in the1960’s. He is still a calculating bully as he proved at the last by-election because he couldn’t have his own way. Do you honestly believe that it is right for this thug to sit in judgement of the police and to help dictate policy? His convictions should disbar him from any public office even being a taxi driver!
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wow Jim, the black cap fits you so snugly
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Graldhunter, I’m sure your father would turn in his grave if he knew that such an unrepentant criminal, thug and racist bigot were to have control over the police service he, your father, so loved and was so much part of.
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Albeit I sometimes disagree with mr hunters remarks on this site I agree that like all good moral societies give people a second chance
If we were to believe that this not to be the case then we might as well give up now and bring back hanging
Nelson Mandella etc
I hope that others who have made mistakes in the past try to make themselves better people and learn to be part of society again
There are many mitigating factors that are never recorded that provoke some to making bad judgements in their lives
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Surely you are not comparing that great, brave international statesman Nelson Mandela, a man who led his people without fear, favour or corruption to Asbo Akhtar, a political pygmy who squats on the PCC masquerading as a vice chair and pillar of society?
That’s a bit like comparing an Iberian Lynx to a ginger tom cat!
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graldhunter’s defence of Asbo Akhtar is surely touching and very revealing? He claims rehabilitation on Akhtar’s part, when recent events and fresh information in this very post, give the lie to that claim! To persist in a belief when the evidence changes, is foolish in the extreme or is the product of a closed mind. Why does graldhuter’s objectivity seem to fail him, when it comes to Akhtar? We should be told!
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Jahangir accepted his guilt, faced his punishment like a man and suffered a very public humiliation in the process, but like a man he has redeemed himself through public service, whereas the RMBC Caution Cabinet Clown continues to this day to huffle-n-shuffle with obfuscation about his dalliance with our legal system …
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“but like a man he has redeemed himself through public service”
Ooh stop it, mi sides are splitting.
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We must now have the identity of graldhunter’s ‘Agent Garbo’, Jahangir ‘asbo’ Akhtar! In the process, he seems to have lost touch with reality, or at least reason? The moral relativism involved in your continued support of Akhtar, rather undermines any moral force there may be in other arguments you may deploy. Akhtar’s bullying is not in the past, believe me.
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Graldhunter, what punishment did Akhtar face? A community Service Order which he probably completed by doing what he does every day in his political life ie “bulls##t” his community, when he should have served at least 3 years in prison and his brother 5. Are you saying he redeemed himself by carrying on in the same bullying manner; covering up child grooming because it involved Asian men and filling his pockerts at the same time? I don’t think so. This isn’t public service, I call it self-service.
In recent weeks we have seen a young lady sentenced to three and a half years in prison for texting whilst driving, exactly what Lord Ahmed did when he was sentenced to a few days in prison for killing an innocent motorist. In fact Ahmeds crime was far worse as he was driving on a Motorway when he killed this innocent driver and could have involved many more, this young lady was on a quiet country road and killed a passenger in her car.
I do not defend her in any way for her criminal stupidity, but what is happening here? There appears to be one rule for the Muslim community and one for the rest of us when Court sentences are handed out. So don’t talk to me about Akhtar accepting his guilt and facing his punishment like a man. There was no punishment for this disgusting crime he got away with it!
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He has indeed been rehabilitated and redeemed himself through effective public service.
He fought hard, and successfully, for the library in his ward to be defended against the wicked cuts and reductions that Dodger and his Corn Fed Grunters, Muppets and Clowns sought to impose across Rovrum.
And if he has had further criminal convictions, other than those already in the public domain which are spent, then please furnish the exact evidence on here rather than hearsay, speculation, rumour and insinuation which as you are probably aware would not be submissible under Judges’ Rules.
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Can we have a new insult GH? “Rovrum Laybah cornfed muppets, grunters and clowns” is getting a bit tedious…What about “Stalin’s Little Helpers”?
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Dear Sin Bosun,
The description of “Rovrum Laybah Corn Fed Grunters, Muppets and Clowns” still stands AFAIC, tedious or otherwise.
Maybe I could refer them to as “Dodger’s Junketing FWs”?
Is that any better for yaz?
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Yes ta – mix it up a bit, but of course, the substance of the moniker stands – unfortunately – What about “Ed Millipedes Worker Ants”?
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““but like a man he has redeemed himself through public service”
Ooh stop it, mi sides are splitting.”
Mine too R Wilde !
Grald is resorting to name calling and is clearly floundering. Whilst Grald recovered a smidgen of respect in my opinion recently with his persistence and forthright approach to uncovering the truth, he has now slipped well back in my estimations. Back in fact to what he showed himself to be to me, a couple of years ago. If, as has been suggested, Grald is a “comrade in arms” with Akhtar, then it will be hardly surprising.
Most of us know that bullies and cowards stick together.
Over to you, Mr Buxton.
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Dear Brenda,
Please don’t become alarmed at sides splitting, they are easily treatable on our wonderful NHS.
Your respect is neither sought nor required by me, and neither is your estimation.
Please keep such dispensations for much more worthy beings than me. I’m doing very nicely on my own thank you without assistance from you.
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graldhunters paragon in action! http://twitter.yfrog.com/0lv63lkcvnbonyqalnovcscwz
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Nothing fails t amaze me on this blog anymore. There was a time I would read the blog and the discussions. Though not always agreeing with everyone I would respect the views expressed. In recent days the comments on here would not look out of place on the Daily Mail. I actually thought this blog attracted intelligent and sensible people. Looks like @Jim Fletcher and @malcontent are struggling to hide their hatred for Rotherham’s Asian and Muslim community. Because of the crimes of a few men it seems acceptable to tarnish the whole Asain community in Rotherham. Do you seriously believe there’s one rule for Muslims and another for us “white” people. Give it a rest you knuckle draggers. You would be right at home in the EDL, where they take misinformation and peddle it to create hatred, resentment and division. Get your facts right @Jim Fletcher, Lord Ahmed was NOT texting himself but was dictating to his wife what to text. Two completely different situations (compared to the one you mentioned), hence the two completely different sentences. Hey, I suppose that doesn’t matters much to you, so long as you can find any link to an Asain or Muslim person, you will spread your lies and vile views till the cows come home.
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AndyK Here we go again, if you don’t agree with what we say about Akhtar or any Asian people you play the race card, just like he does. I am not racist and never have been, but he is a racist bigot. I also said THERE APPEARS TO BE one rule for Muslims etc, not THERE IS, a very big difference but what does it matter when you are playing the race card as it covers everything for you doesn’t it?
I don’t know where you got it from Ahmed was dictating to his wife when he killed that innocent driver because in a recent newspaper interview he admitted his guilt and accepted his pubishment. He no doubt tried that defence thought up by his lawyer and it didn’t work! You believe what you like but I’ll tell you this, if the Court had accepted he was dictating to his wife and not texting, he would have been found Not Guilty BUT he wasn’t was he, so that disproves your rediculous suggestion.
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FYI – Agent “Garbo” at Town Hall Towers/Lubyanka is the cover name for a cadre of very disaffected and highly principled Laybah Elected Members and Officers who continue to be concerned at the antics of the Corn Fed Grunters, Muppets and Clowns and who seek to let the public know the reality of what is actually happening in THT/Lubyanka.
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I would have thought that it difficult to find any “much more worthy beings” than graldhunter from his postings on RothPolitics … …
However, he says that he is “doing very nicely” on his own but forgets that others – on here and further afield – are more than likely interested in his past actions and attitudes as well as his current ones. Especially following his apparent allegiance to Akhtar.
I am sure he would want all “active and empowered citizens” of Rotherham to be in the full picture about everything discussed here.
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Dear Brenda,
It’s not “apparent allegiance” to Jahangir Akhtar, it’s a friendship and has been so for nearly 20 years and he accepts critical advice from his friends.
Whether you, or others further afield, have a prurient interest “in his past actions and attitudes as well as his current ones” is something that you are going to be disappointed with cos there will be no 4-colour pics or exposes on here like you read about in da glossy retail therapy magz.
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I am sure that your comment meant to be helpful and supportive to Jahangir Akhtar, but your confirmation of your close personal friendship does nothing to help him, but reveal the likely source for many of your more revelatory and damaging posts attacking labour and fellow labour group colleagues, on Rotherham Politics.
Now at least, readers can see for themselves, the reason for graldhunter’s loss of critical function, when it comes to Jahangir Akhtar?
Looks like Asbo Akhtar is not the kind of friend his labour chums imagine him to be? Agent Garbo indeed? Pull the other one!
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Dear Rik aka Free Radical, if only you knew the truth you would be completely amazed, I promise you.
I appreciate your accolade about my “more revelatory and damaging posts”. I had not realised the success of my work until you kindly drew public attention to it.
But I have to confess that my work was ongoing a long long time before I knew Rotherham Politics existed or I even submitted content.
I have no loss of critical function, indeed my critical functions are intact, well oiled, honed to perfection and ready to discharge themselves on further revelations in relation to Rovrum Laybah Corn Fed Grunters, Muppets and Clowns.
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You really are best when in a hole, to stop digging!
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Dear RothPol-Rik-Free-Radical, me no in no hole so me no stop diggin cos me no in no hole, dig it 🙂
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You are in a funny mood today? Perhaps a nap.
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Andy K: My apologies for being late in replying to your rant yesterday, but I have been absent.
If you want to see a bigot I suggest you look in the mirror, for by trying to get Rotherpol to gag me because you don’t approve of what was in my post surely makes you a classic bigot! I deliberately put the last paragraph in my first post to draw out a few multi-culti, enrichers and you jumped at the chance to show how PC, morally superior and amenable to living in a multi racial hellhole you are.
You preposterously state that because you are indigenous you cannot be accused of playing the race card! Excuse me but that is precisely what people of your ilk in the Labour party did whenever anybody objected to them deliberately and without a mandate, flooding the country with immigrants during their disastrous 13 years in office. Who can have forgot how Brown described Gillian Duffy in Rochdale as being a bigot for daring to race the issue of immigrants flooding into her town.
As for you, latest rant you state absurdly that Nazir Ahmed was not texting whilst driving, but merely dictating to his wife! If that were true then he would not have been committing an offence! As far as I know, it is not illegal to talk whilst driving! In addition, on the subject of Ahmed this man of “integrity,”who was also our ward Councillor and so we do know a bit about his background. It is worth pointing out that this criminal, when the object of an investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman into the improper use of confidential council information would not answer a single question the LGO put to him and the enquiry fizzled out. These two Pakistanis are certainly fine exemplars of how ethnics should behave in our country!
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Erm once again your wrong about Lord Ahmed. He was conviced of reckless and/or dangerous driving, not for killing someone whilst using his phone. Just because he wasn’t using his phone, doesn’t mean you can’t be convicted of the offence he was found guilty off. It was accepted by the court thay he wasnt texting while driving.
And your long rant about immigration has nothing to do with the point I was making. Yes there is a debate to be had about immigration but what has that got to do with comment? I do not agree woth labours open door immigration policy. Both these two men are British so why is it important to bring their ethnicity or their religion into you comment? The answer is simple because you don’t class them as you equal because they are not white. To you they are somehow inferior that’s why you have to resort to labelling them as Muslim or Asain. You commented in your original post about Asian joing the Labour Party in huge numbers to get “one of their own” selected. Well newsflash these people are British not Asains. All most all of them born and raised here. The fact that you cant accept them as British citizen, equal as you and I who are white is a clear inidcation of your intolerance towards accepting them as British. You as well as Jim Fletcher, claim not to be racist. Well you may not be overtly racist but the characteristic to display in comments are indicative of racists.
@Jim Fletcher nice back track on your semantics about the one rule for Muslims and one for the rest. Why would you claim what you did if you didn’t actually believe that there was one rule for the Muslim and one for the rest? Tbh I would feel a bit stupid too if I had made that comment and would try and claim otherwise. Worry not, your not alone. You can sleep safely knowing there’s many thousand of right-wing neocons who think the same as you when it comes Muslims.
As far as Akhtar is conserned I couldn’t give too hoots about him. Don’t know him so won’t pass judgment. So long as he can legally do the job I’m not going to make a fuss.
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I don’t think any other race is inferior to mine. You say I should not bring their ehtrnicity into it! Why not when they are forever trying to shove their religion and culture down our throats, that’s what I object to!They openly state they want to make my country an islamic one! Whatever you say about me and whatever invective you use I’m not trying to gag you! You think I should be gagged, that what makes you the bigot!
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How nice.
graldhunter’s connections with Akhtar are that of a friendship of nearly 20 years and Akhtar apparently accepts critical advice from his friends. Well he certainly doesn’t accept it from many of the electorate.
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If graldhunter is such a close friend of Asbo, may be he can enlighten us all about Asbo’s first conviction … it may give him a much welcome opportunity to drop the Asbo moniker and give him another sobriquet.
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I can’t vouch for the authenticity of this, but I was told prior to him kicking and punching people into needing hospital treatment, he had a conviction for selling cigarettes to underage child.
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One thing I’ve noticed about Rothpo is that it does strive to be fair and balanced; and so in the interests of that I think it would only be fair to point out that Lord A’s conviction was not as black and white as some in this thread would like to paint. Not only did he attempt to save a man’s life but with no thought for his own safety he did prevent other motorists from hitting the dead man’s car … which had already been clipped by at least one oncoming vehicle & narrowly missed by another before Lord A hit it. At that stage the car, which had hit a central reservation crash barrier, was facing the wrong way on the motorway. The consequences could have been much worse had oncoming traffic not been alerted by Lord A. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/7909510.stm
Just saying.. Y.
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Yvonne, this should only have reduced his prison sentence by 12 months to 4 years instead of 5 if there was any justice. As I said previously, Ahmed was texting whilst driving on a motorway, much more serious than the young lady in North Yorkshire and he only did what any guilty human being would do in the circumstances after causing such mayhem. He certainly was no hero and he had just killed someone. PLUS HE’S STILL A LORD! Disgusting.
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Hi Jim, I can well understand your frustration at the sentence, but with regard to whether he’s still “a Lord” or not, I am no respecter of titles in any way shape or form, and he’s certainly not a Lord over me, any more than the infamous Caution Cabinet Clown is just a figure of derision and utter disregard for me.
I well remember a long-service Army sergeant saying to a very young pompous Junior Rupert, when admonished by the Rupert for not showing him the respect he thought his rank entitled him to, thus: “Sir, rank you may well wear, but my respect you have yet to earn”.
Nuff said 🙂
The ermin-clad ex-chip shop owner is just that, an ermin-clad ex-chip show owner.
IMHO he should not be fawned over and accorded some special status. He’s earned absolutely nothing, in stark contrast to those names carved on my village war memorial and across our Borough who freely gave their all in the service of their country and paid the ultimate price in the process.
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You make a fair point and this was surely taken into consideration by the judge in giving Ahmed a “very lenient sentence,” which on appeal, by Smithy his slick brief was reduced to a mere 14 days in Doncatraz. I’m surprised he didn’t finsh up getting compensation! Despite being an excon they couldn’t get him out of the Lords though could they! He’s still in there on £300 per day tax free, with one of the best attendance records of all these unelected fossils!
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Pingback: The Uncomfortable Truth About Jahangir Akhtar! | Rotherham Politics
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Reblogged this on Rotherham Politics and commented:
Another reminder?
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Actually it was Shaun wright who made the decision undercover.
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