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Category: Greater Manchester Police
When the 'cover-up' becomes the story
"Hi, Mabs. Ian Hopkins speaking."
So began the search for a new member of the most troubled command team in British policing. Even before the post was advertised. In footballing parlance, Chief Superintendent Maboob "Mabs" Hussain from the neighbouring West Yorkshire force (WYP) had been "tapped up".
Hopkins, the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) chief constable, ultimately, and he thought seamlessly, secured the transfer of Mabs from a rival team across the Pennines. Even though the tapping up did cause some discomfort within the GMP command team, emails disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.
The phone call was made on the same day that Hopkins and his deputy, Ian Pilling, claim they decided that another assistant chief constable was needed to bolster their dwindling team: 19th July, 2018. But no notes in day books were made, no meeting or briefing notes, no team discussion, no decision rationale, no disclosable data at all. Just a spur of the moment, informal discussion it seems.
It also appears that the police and crime commissioner was not consulted, either, as required by law.
But, those not so minor issues apart, all seemed fine and dandy; slick dresser Mabs had got a promotion, some might say well-deserved, and a pay rise of around £40,000, including benefits; Hopkins had been able to disguise the fact that no other senior police officer in the country wanted to work for him AND he had a black minority ethic (BAME) face in his leadership team, to underscore his commitment to the police service's obsession with diversity. Smiles and handshakes all round.
Except that Hopkins had the dubious distinction of having, at that time, TWO disgraced assistant chief constables on long-term absence from the force, with neither expected to return. The cost to the taxpayer was around £250,000 per annum. Which, in terms the man, or woman, on the crime-riddled, poverty-stricken streets of Manchester might understand, would pay for ten bobbies on the beat. Or, more than adequately feed fifteen families of five for a year.
The first of those, ACC Steve Heywood, is presently awaiting a charging decision from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after an investigation by The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC, but perhaps better known as the IPCC). The latter said, in May 2018:
"Our investigation looked at the evidence given by ACC Steven Heywood at the [Anthony Grainger] inquiry, particularly in relation to how he recorded information in his police (sic) log book.
"In reviewing the evidence, we have decided that there is an indication that ACC Heywood may have committed a criminal offence.
"Our report, along with supportive evidence, has been shared with the CPS to consider if the following offences have been committed: perverting the course of justice, and misconduct in public office."
Heywood has been dogged by other major policing scandals since his full promotion to the command team in April, 2013. He had been in a temporary ACC role for eighteen months prior. He has been absent from the force for eighteen months on full pay. Again, a six figure salary plus benefits.
On 14th November, 2018, after almost a week of rumours swirling around social media, news was released to the press, by GMP, of Heywood's retirement. Apart from his own failings, that led, at least in part, to the needless death of Anthony Grainger, Heywood has always sought to conceal his role in the handling of notorious villain, Dale Cregan, who eventually, and tragically, shot and killed two young Manchester police officers. The subsequent, and some say, contrived, sale of Heywood's house also developed into a murky scandal centred around whether he was at risk from Cregan, at the time locked up in the Category AA wing (known as The Cage) of Strangeways jail. The artful financial wangling was followed by the inevitable, long-running, multi-layered GMP 'cover-up'. The troubled ACC was also Head of Public Protection in GMP for at least some of the period covered by the Rochdale grooming scandal. The vexed question of 'who knew what' within the police force is presently being addressed via an inquiry run by the Greater Manchester Mayor.
The infamous 'Boobgate' scandal claimed the second of the miscreant ACC's: Rebekah Sutcliffe, whom many believe owes her continued, if pointless, place in the police service to the astute advocacy of John Beggs QC. Who, somehow, managed to persuade a disciplinary panel, that included Sir Thomas Winsor, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, to conclude proceedings with a written warning, rather than dismissal. A remarkable achievement, in the light of the allegations against her and a previous chequered history with the force. Sutcliffe, who infamously told colleague, Superintendent Sarah Jackson, that she would be "judged on the size of her tits" is presently seconded to Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, where she is overseeing a project to encourage exercise, healthy living and healthy eating (watch short video clip here) . A demeaning 'non-job' costing taxpayers £109,000, plus benefits, per annum. She was reprimanded in 2010 for trying to pull rank and gatecrash a Labour party conference hotel, to attend a drinks junket, when she had no accreditation to enter the secure site. There was also an IPCC ivestigation into her failure to declare a relevant relationship with chief superintendent, Paul Rumney, when chairing a disciplinary panel. Rumney, never far from controversy himself, was Head of GMP's Professional Standards Board at the material time, thus creating a clear conflict of interest. That neither, oddly enough, appeared to notice at the time.
49 year old Sutcliffe's secondment to Oldham council was due to end in September, 2018, but a spokesperson for the latter recently told Police Oracle: "There is no agreed end date for the secondment at this time. Rebekah is still the Strategic Director of Reform". GMP refused to comment on if, or when, she would be returning to the force. It is believed she has five years of police service remaining before she becomes eligible for retirement. Her biography has been deleted from the GMP chief officer team webpage.
At a time when the police service cannot give away deputy and chief constable roles, another ACC, Debbie Ford, recently secured a rare neutral-rank transfer from GMP back to her former force, Northumbria Police (read here). Having told at least one former senior colleague, retired superintendent Pete Jackson, she was uncomfortable with being associated with scandal after scandal that routinely engulfs the force. As the former murder detective wryly observes: "Challenging the unethical, unprofessional conduct of her peers was an option she might have considered, rather than heading for the exit door". There may be other personal, or professional, reasons why Ford left GMP, of course. But, if there are, the public is in the dark. Ford joins Sarah Jackson as a GMP departee, after the latter also sought a transfer from the troubled Manchester force to the less demanding rural acres of Cumbria.
Garry Shewan was another who walked away from an ACC role in the UK's fourth largest force, doing a 'moonlight flit' as GMP's £27 million iOPS technology upgrade, for which he had portfolio responsibility, crashed and burned. The budget for the project is believed to have roughly doubled and, incredibly, Shewan claims credit for a £60 million IT project on his LinkedIn profile.. "Honest Cop" Shewan, like Heywood and Sutcliffe, had also been dogged by scandal over the previous four years as both the author of this piece, and an increasing number of well respected police whistleblowers, rounded on him and exposed a number of troubling, alleged misdemeanours. Some of them very well evidenced. In one particular case, that resulted in the controversial, and many say unjust, dismissal of a junior officer, ex chief constable Sir Peter Fahy allowed Shewan to investigate complaints about himself. They had been made by the discipline lead of the local police federation, no less. In another case, Shewan wanted to manage a conduct complaint about him outside the statutory framework and through a restorative justice process in which he was the controlling influence. He had admitted giving a misleading statement about knowledge, or otherwise, of an investigation being carried out by Fahy into another chief constable, Lincolnshire's Neil Rhodes. The issue being that Shewan had withheld crucial information that could have significantly informed that probe. The Operation Redbone outcome was significantly flawed as a result.
Hate crime champion, Shewan, was also not slow to complain about feeling 'harassed' when tackled about his conduct.
Yet another Manchester assistant chief constable to head for the exit door, as trouble rained down on him, was Terry Sweeney. His retirement triggered an angry response from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC, now IOPC). He was under investigation by the IPCC for two separate allegations, after being served with a gross misconduct notice in relation to the disposal of body parts by GMP from victims of the notorious Harold Shipman. In addition, he was served with a criminal and gross misconduct notice in respect of his role in an allegedly poorly-handled investigation into a now-convicted child sex offender, Dominic Noonan. Sweeney was also involved in the alleged 'cover-up' of the unauthorised bugging of offices, occupied by senior leadership team members, by Superintendent Julian Snowball, who had purchased equipment for his illegal activities on the internet. Terry Sweeney was also formerly a Commander of GMP's Rochdale Division and is yet another part, however small, of the 'who knew what' police mystery concerning child sex abuse in the town.
One of Sweeney's sycophantic clique, during this troubled period, was Detective Chief Inspector (as he was then) John Lyons, latest holder of the poisoned chalice that is Head of Ethics and Standards at troubled Cleveland Police. Lyons is remembered well by former GMP peers for a discreditable, unpleasant, early morning drunken incident in Bolton town centre, in which subordinate officers were verbally abused. Sweeney is said to have smoothed the path so that his friend faced no meaningful sanction.
The IPCC Commissioner overseeing the Sweeney investigations, said at the time: "Greater Manchester Police has informed the IPCC that ACC Terry Sweeney is retiring on 31 October, 2014. The IPCC cannot prevent that happening, but we have been assured that ACC Sweeney will cooperate with our investigations after his departure.
"A police officer resigning or retiring when they are subject to investigation does not serve anyone's purpose and can frustrate our investigations leaving important questions unanswered. Such a practice can only be damaging to public confidence in policing. We will continue pursuing all lines of enquiry before publishing our findings and evidence so that the public can decide for themselves."
Sweeney faced no further action. Strangely, the IPCC report can no longer be located on their website.
Against this alarming, and continuous, backdrop, Chief Constable Hopkins has also been under heavy siege for the past twelve months, as a series of national newspaper front page splashes, in depth exposés, and a call for a public inquiry, has kept both him, and his scandal-rocked force in the headlines. For all the wrong reasons, it must be said. He was also lambasted over the Boobgate scandal, and some squarely put the blame on him for not nipping Becky Sutcliffe's drunken antics in the bar, whilst stood with her at the boozy women's policing function. Instead he delegated that unpleasant, hazardous task to a subordinate, whilst he sloped off to enjoy another 'freebie' at a nearby luxury hotel (read more here). Which might readily explain why no-one wanted to work for him as an assistant chief constable and end up with a reputation tarnished in the manner of Heywood, Shewan, Sutcliffe or Sweeney. Or have to backtrack to their home force in the manner of Debbie Ford.
An independent observer might also conclude that, given the present circumstances, and sensing there may be even worse to come, you would have to be desperate to walk into that firestorm.
Nevertheless, Hussain took up the role of Assistant Chief Constable at GMP on 1st October, 2018. He was the only candidate who applied, after the approach from Hopkins, and it is said, the only candidate interviewed; although no documented evidence of such an event has been disclosed to the author of this piece, after what have been quite exhaustive enquiries: Two freedom of information requests (one each to GMP and WYP) concerning the appointment; enquiries made of both police force press offices; fairly lengthy correspondence with GMP Deputy Chief Constable (DCC) Ian Pilling and one way correspondence with WYP Chief Constable, Dee Collins. Whom, it must be said, has this unappealing, unethical, unprofessional, and repeating habit of burying her head in the sand at the first sign of trouble. Particularly, when it is one of her 'favourites' under scrutiny. Mabs was, most certainly, in that group.
Documents disclosed by WYP under FOIA reveal the usual inconsistencies. Collins claims the matter of Mabs' 'tapping-up' on 19th July, 2018 by Hopkins and subsequent application to GMP, was first discussed amongst her own command team the day after he was appointed (4th September, 2018). The only record in her day book, she says, is on that same date and a copy has been disclosed.
Yet, Collins had assisted in Mabs' application, in early August, to the extent that, in section 11 of the application form (a blank form can be viewed here) it was required to be completed by the applicant's chief constable, she filled it in and sent it back to Hussain, via email, with the jolly message: 'If it is not what you want, alter it to suit'.
No note in her day book about that event. Or, if there is, it has not been disclosed. A retired WYP command team member has revealed that, under Dee Collins' leadership, the priority is what to EXCLUDE from notes of their meetings, rather than maintain an auditable record.
Taken at its face, and by reference to the disclosures made, so far, by both forces, Hopkins did not contact Collins. Which, given the recent history of each of those two police forces covering up for the other, and the fact that they are neighbours, with a large shared border, is difficult to contemplate.
There is no documented record, either, of Mabs contacting his own chief constable, or vice versa, after the Hopkins phone call.
The fact it was public knowledge, broadcast by Collins, no less, that Mabs was in line for the next ACC role in his home force, where he had served his entire 22 year police career, simply adds to the intrigue as to why a popular, high achieving, Bradford council estate lad made good, would take such a risk with this move to GMP.
At the time of his appointment as ACC, this is what a gushing Mabs said on the GMP website: "I'm thrilled to have been given this opportunity. I have great admiration for the work GMP has done for some time, knowing they are a similar size to WYP and respecting the way they have responded to particularly challenging times over the years. Their commitment to public service and the demands I can expect to face in my new role were all things which appealed to me to join the GMP family."
So, let us look at this statement in more detail:
He was certainly correct about being 'given' the opportunity. Gift-wrapped, with a ribbon on top.
But then his fresh-from-the-strategic-command-course-sycophantic-management-speak sets the alarm bells ringing (Mabs had successfully negotiated the necessary College of Policing test six months earlier):
Firstly, he does not explain what it is he admires about GMP that places it above his former force. Both have a dreadful history of covering up industrial scale child sex abuse Rochdale, Oldham, Bradford (Mabs' home city for all his life), Dewsbury, Keighley, Halifax, Huddersfield, Manchester Curry Mile, Mirfield. Similarly, their failures to tackle volume crime, particularly burglarly, are legion. Both have gun, and knife, crime that is out of control. Is all this 'the [GMP] commitment to public service' to which he refers? But, moving on, both have professional standards departments and counter-corruption units that are perennially inept, and, arguably, corrupt. Both have ACPO teams, past and present, mired in scandal. Both have chief constables that are, quite plainly, out of their depth. Both have the unenviable reputation for outrageous, high profile cover-ups. So what is it that makes GMP 'admirable', one has to wonder: The debacle in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; the Operation Grantham stored body parts scandal; or a multi-million pound organised crime investigation that collapsed after allegations of police officer corruption? These three examples are drawn from a lengthy list that also includes Operations Poppy 1 and 2, and Operation Leopard, of which more will be heard in a separate articles.
Secondly, no-one who knows even a little about policing, or reads the national newspapers, or watches police documentaries on TV, or listens to radio programmes such as File on 4, could conclude anything other than, in its present form, run by Hopkins, Greater Manchester Police is a scandal-hit shambles. Perhaps Mabs, an alert thief-taker, missed all that?
Thirdly, he describes Greater Manchester Police as 'a family'. The implication is happiness, cohesion and belonging. Which couldn't be further from the truth. There is a rush for the exit door into careers such as train, or tram, driver; officers count the hours and days to retirement; morale in the force is at rock bottom says the GMP Police Federation; faith in the leadership team is correspondingly low, and, so stressed are the frontline officers with the working environment, record numbers are calling in sick. Add to that the internal strife caused by over-promotion of on-message sycophants, who have never seen an angry man; obsessive internal witch-hunts conducted against officers prepared to call out wrongdoing, and then draw your own conclusions as to whether this den of skulduggery, and two-faced-gittery, is a family of which anyone sensible would really want to newly marry into. Especially, if it means uprooting your own family from an area in which you've lived all your life, and leaving an organisation in which you started your career, progressed at a pleasing rate, and have always been well regarded.
For his part, and at the same time, Chief Constable Hopkins said of his new recruit: "I'm delighted to welcome Mabs to the GMP family. He is an extremely experienced officer and he will help us to continue to drive the force forward". Over a cliff, presumably? As for police 'family', Hopkins is on his fourth, having previously worked in three of the smaller county forces before making the quantum leap to Manchester in 2008. Becoming chief constable of GMP, by default, in 2015, as no-one else applied for that job, either.
As one might expect, the Manchester Evening News (MEN), in what police whistleblowers say is their adopted role as the public relations arm of GMP, ran a 'Welcome to Mabs' puff piece, as Hussain gave his first exclusive 'interview', just one day after joining the force (read full MEN article here).
Despite controversy over the appointment, broadcast widely on social media, MEN avoided asking any difficult questions. It all had the look, and feel, of a pre-planned 'corporate comms' operation, with softball questions, and answers, agreed in advance, to avoid any embarassing issues surfacing, inadvertently.
There was, however, one interesting passage: Mabs was, presumably, well prepared when asked this question by award-winning MEN reporter, Neal Kealing:
– Is it true you and your family get stopped routinely when you fly abroad?
"Yes. I do get stopped regularly, in particular flying to the States – my brother lives in America – and I do visit him regularly. I have been taken off a flight, because they forgot to check me getting onto a flight, which was rather embarrassing. It does frustrate me. I can understand the reason for checking people who fit a certain age group, ethnicity, and profile. But it does annoy me that it is happening so often.
"As a result I did write to Homeland Security. The Director General replied saying they couldn't confirm or deny if I was on any international list. I have what they call a redress number, which I can use when I fly, which they say should hopefully limit the level of inconvenience caused. You have to go with the flow.
"It is frustrating. But people have a job to do. Flying out of America I still get stopped. I usually get told my name has been flagged up, and to expect some delay. I don't mind security checks, it shows we are taking terrorism seriously."
Even more interestingly, Mabs was not asked these questions by "Killer", as Kealing is known to friends and colleagues:
– What, or who, persusaded you to apply to join GMP?
– Why uproot your family and leave a force where you have served all your career?
– Was the competition for the job, and the interview, tough?
– Are you concerned about the welter of bad publicity that has engulfed GMP recently, particularly in The Times and The Sunday Times, and on BBC television and radio?
– What do you think of two serving ACC colleagues being removed from the force? One of whom may be facing criminal proceedings and the other who brought national shame and ridicule on GMP and the city of Manchester.
– Are you concerned about another ACC retiring in what was, effectively, a moonlight flit after grotesquely failing on a major infrastructure project?-
– Has this poisoned chalice been handed to you?
– Have you questioned why and how the ACC vacancy arose?
– Have you spoken to ACC Debbie Ford about why she left?
– Joining from another force that has history of 'problem' senior officers (Norman Bettison and Mark Gilmore being very high profile examples), has this better equipped you to deal with a low calibre command team such as GMP?
– Will you robustly challenge inappropriate conduct of senior colleagues. Or look the other way, or walk away, as is the tradition in GMP?
– Were you asked in interview about the persistent allegations, circulating on social media, made by WYP whistleblowers against you?
– Have you been asked by either Mr Hopkins, or Mr Pilling, about them since you joined?
– Is there any truth in those allegations? Which include the proposition of failing counter terrorist unit vetting for a number of years.
– Were the whistleblower allegations robustly, and thoroughly, investigated by WYP, before you left, so that the air could be cleared and you could deal with any residual issues. If, indeed, there are any at all, on your application form and vetting declaration?
Whilst the MEN was giving Mabs the VIP treatment, Questions were being asked, by two investigative journalists, of the police press offices in Manchester and West Yorkshire about the allegations against Mabs. One of which, it is said, has been the subject of a complaint made by a serving WYP superintendent (also served as a detective chief inspector in professional standards for several years) and close working colleague.
Essentially, (i) have they been investigated – and (ii) what was the outcome?
Straighforward enough, and not at all unreasonable to expect honest answers from two of the country's law enforcement agencies. But, no, all questions have been glibly deflected by both press offices, to both journalists, in a manner that seemed calculated to cause further exasperation.
Both those journalists, the author of this piece and the BBC's Neil Morrow, readily accept that, if the wall of silence is maintained by both police forces, it is almost impossible to get to the truth of the issue of whether an investigation took place, or not. But, it can be said, with some certainty, that had one taken place, and cleared Mabs, then neither force would have been slow to trumpet that fact; discrediting the whistleblowers and those adopting their cause.
There has been email correspondence between Ian Pilling and Neil Wilby that appears to confirm that no checks have been made by GMP over the vetting issue and they had not asked, as of 14th September, 2018 any questions of WYP, at all, concerning the allegations against Mabs. The announcement of his appointment as the new GMP ACC had been made ten days earlier. The following day, 5th September, 2018, Pilling was passed, in strict confidence, correspondence between Neil Wilby, the WYP press office and Dee Collins dating back to January/February, 2018. The serving superintendent is copied into that correspondence. Which is shortly after the latest of the alleged incidents concerning Mabs. DCC Pilling cannot claim not to know the identity of that officer.
The official GMP line, says Pilling, is that if there has been any allegations concerning misconduct, during his service with WYP, then they were matters for the Appropriate Authority of that force, Chief Constable Collins, to deal with, not himself or Ian Hopkins. He was confident such an investigation would have been undertaken, but was not going to ask the question – and still hasn't, on the evidence available. On 14th September, 2018, DCC Pilling says that he forwarded the concerns over the allegations to the West Yorkshire chief constable.
Following freedom of information request to both GMP and WYP, it appears that Ian Pilling did NOT contact Dee Collins, by email or letter, at least, to make enquiries as to whether that investigation into Mabs did, in fact take place. He didn't contact DCC John Robins or Head of Professional Standards, Osman Khan, either. Neither did Ian Hopkins, nor his own Head of Professional Standards, Annette Anderson, contact any of the WYP officers named here.
It was also established, from the disclosure arising from those same requests, that there appears to have been no contact between any of the same three GMP senior officers and either the College of Policing or the National Police Chiefs Council, concerning Mabs' appointment or any vetting concerns. The College's senior selection team were made aware in January, 2018 of the whistleblower concerns, but no email correspondence between the College of Policing and either WYP, or GMP, has been disclosed upon request.
Dee Collins begins a three month secondment to the College of Policing in January, 2019.
A separate information request to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority seeking disclosure of correspondence between the de facto police and crime commissioner, Deputy Mayor of Manchester, Beverley Hughes, and her chief constable has, so far, been stonewalled.
By way of section 40 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act, 2011, the chief constable must consult the Police and Crime Commissioner (the Deputy Mayor in the case of GMCA) before appointing a person as an assistant chief constable of the force.
The response to the information request provided by the PCC is highly questionable. She claims that in respect of the appointment of deputy and assistant chief constables, her oversight responsibility is confined to private chats between herself and the chief constable. No notes, or minutes, taken and no email traffic between the two. Indeed, no retrievable data is held says Baroness Hughes.
Material disclosed by GMP contradicts that position. Internal email correspondence between Ian Hopkins and Ian Pilling say she was sent a copy of Mabs' application form, plus background papers, on 29th August, 2018. Put another way, the Deputy Mayor of Manchester has lied to journalist, Neil Wilby.
The stated position of the Deputy Mayor, according to her written response to the information request, has been robustly challenged. But no response had been provided by her within the required four week period under FOIA and the Information Commissioner's guidance.
A complaint has been lodged with the Information Commissioner's Office concerning the handling of the request, and a further complaint is being submitted to the appropriate authority alleging honesty and integrity breaches by Beverley Hughes. In this case, the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Panel.
Baroness Hughes, another living, breathing example of the abuse of the 'honours' system does, of course, have 'previous' for lying. Having resigned as a Labour government minister, in 2004, for doing just that – and in very similar circumstances to those prevailing here: Denying she'd received a memorandum when it was readily proved that she had not only received the document, but acted on it.
Whether, or not, it is possible to get to the truth of the WYP whistleblower allegations against Mabs Hussain is a moot point, without an unequivocal statement from either Ian Hopkins, Dee Collins, or Mabs himself. But, as with so many policing issues over the years, it is now the 'cover-up' that becomes the story.
In this particular case, without the ever-lengthening mystery, and the lies that inevitably follow, surrounding this matter, there simply is no story. It could have been put to bed by a two paragraph statement from WYP in February or March, 2018.
This cover-up may yet claim some very high profile scalps, even if the new GMP assistant chief constable emerges untarnished and free to get on with his new job.
The press offices of GMP, WYP and the Deputy Mayor's Office have all declined to comment. Indeed, the latter two have not even acknowledged the request.
The enquiry to the GMP press office ends thus: "For the avoidance of doubt, and this has been made clear, previously, to DCC Pilling and WYP chief constable Collins, I [Neil Wilby] have no personal, or professional, issues with ACC Hussain. Other than the whistleblower allegations, he is known inside and outside of WYP to be a popular, professional, high achieving police officer. I am more than content for those views to be shared with Mabs."
Statements had been specifically requested from Mabs Hussain, and Dee Collins, that directly address the issue of whether the police whistleblower allegations have been appropriately recorded, referred and subsequently investigated.
From the ensuing silence, inference can be drawn as to whether the answer is in the affirmative, or otherwise. Not one journalist or police officer, serving, ex-, or retired, spoken to believes it has.
The lay reader is invited to draw their own conclusion as to where that leaves the GMP chief constable and his latest command team recruit.
There is no ACC Maboob Hussain biography on the GMP chief officer team webpage, which was last updated on 29th October, 2018. A month after mabs joined the force (read here).
Page last updated on Saturday 24th November, 2018 at 1725hrs
Picture credit: Greater Manchester Police
Author Neil WilbyPosted on November 17, 2018 February 7, 2019 Categories Greater Manchester Police, PCP's, West Yorks PoliceTags Annette Anderson, Bev Hughes, Beverley Hughes, Boobgate, College of Policing, DCC John Robins, Debbie Ford, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Greater Manchester Police and Crime Panel., Ian Hopkins, Ian Pilling, iOPS, John Beggs QC, John Robins, Maboob Hussain, Mabs Hussain, Manchester Evening News, National Police Chiefs Council, Neal Kealing, Neil Morrow, Neil Wilby, Neil Wilby Journalist, Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, Operation Grantham, Operation Leopard, Operation Poppy 1, Operation Poppy 2, Osman Khan, Oz Khan, Rebekah Sutcliffe, Sir Peter Fahy, Sir Thomas Winsor, Steve Heywood, Titgate, Tom Winsor1 Comment on When the 'cover-up' becomes the story
Mystery of the 'missing' peer review
An important part of an investigative journalist's armoury is the Freedom of Information Act, 2000. The essential principle being that public authorities, unless they can provide a good, and lawful, reason not to do so, must disclose information, upon request, by a member of the public. Or, indeed, a reporter chasing down an 'exclusive'.
'Public authorities' includes police forces and policing bodies. With only one or two notable exceptions, the Act is routinely abused by the latter two.
For emphasis that is repeated, in terms: Law enforcement agencies disregard the dictates of Parliament and gang together, under the auspices of the National Police Chiefs Council, no less, to do so.
Unchallenged, it has to be said, by the very MP's who are the country's legislators. Or, by Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC's) who are elected at the ballot box to provide oversight to chief constables. The latter may be connected to the fact that some PCC's are also serial, and serious, FOI offenders. Aided and abetted by a woefully weak statutory regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and an even less efficient 'inn of last resort', the General Regulatory Chamber, First Tier Tribunal.
In short, policing bodies know, all too well, that there is no easy remedy if they set out to frustrate a journalist in his, or her, quest for disclosure of documents that may underpin a vital public interest exposé, or search for the truth in, for example, the case of a miscarriage of justice.
One glaring, and increasingly high profile example of police forces abusing the Act, is the matter of a 'peer review' that was allegedly undertaken by the Metropolitan Police Service (the Met) on behalf of the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP).
A peer review is a process, guided by the College of Policing, by which police forces frequently invite counterparts, and specialists, from neighbouring constabularies to evaluate their operational performance. Peer reviews, it is said, completely absent of evidence, support the principle of police interoperability, continuous improvement and information sharing.
Management-speak aside, a peer review is also a soft alternative to a robust, thorough investigation of wrongdoing in which 'bad apples' in police forces are plucked from the barrel and cast aside.
Shortly after his appointment as chief of the Manchester force, Ian Hopkins, trumpeted loudly about his intention to invite the Met to look into his troubled Professional Standards Board (PSB), which had been dogged by scandal after scandal over the preceding three years, or so. Including, for example, unlawful hacking of phones belonging to members of public; alteration of witness statements; failure to disclose evidence in civil and criminal court proceedings. All very topical, and serious criminal offences, to boot.
He told the Manchester Evening News: "I have asked for a peer review, by another force, to look at how the Professional Standards Branch and Counter Corruption Unit operate – and to see if there is any learning from other parts of the country about the way we operate that maybe we can be doing differently."
Both departments had been inspected by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) 'about three times' in the last few years and concluded they are 'very good', the chief added. It is relevant to point out that HMIC is another policing body that abuses the Act and, quite separately, there is considerable doubt, across a much wider spectrum, as to the effectiveness and efficiency of their inspections. The Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Thomas Winsor, is deeply disrespected, and subjected to childish ridicule, by very many serving, and retired, police officers across the country. If the general public was more widely aware of the concerns over the Queen's representative, there would be a huge outcry.
Hopkins went on to defend the work of the department – feared and loathed by some inside GMP, it is said – and added: "What we are increasingly seeing is that, rather than people accounting for their own actions, they are attacking those people who are told to do that investigation."
The chief constable pointed to 'a number of individuals who are disgruntled and have raised issues'. He was, no doubt, referring to such as ex-Superintendent John Buttress, whom, on many independent views, was the subject of what amounted to a crudely executed, disproportionately pursued 'witch-hunt' by GMP – and Paul Bailey, the very well-respected former Chair of the National Black Police Association, who was a constant thorn in the side of the command team in GMP.
"We want to make sure, if we get things wrong, or if people have behaved badly, or broken the law, then they are held to account for it," the chief constable concluded.
Fine words but the reality is very, very different, as anyone close to GMP knows.
So, put shortly, the view advanced by Hopkins was that GMP's PSB was functioning well, there was not really a problem – and he would ask another police force to carry out a review to prove his point. Which is, in terms, that the issue is confined to disgruntled officers making a lot of white noise.
The peer review, Hopkins said, would last SIX WEEKS. Note that carefully. But, to some, that might have seemed short enough, given the nature and scale of the corruption allegations made against GMP's troubled PSB.
That was the last public pronouncement made by Hopkins and there has been no visible follow up by the local newspaper, or its crime reporter, John Scheerhout. Whom a number of GMP's critics perceive to be too close to the force to effectively perform the "social watchdog" role of a journalist. Underpinned, at least in part, by the appearance of a string of stories in The Times and Sunday Times, sourced by the country's most visible, and effective, police whistleblower, ex-GMP Superintendent Pete Jackson.
This series of front page splashes, and double page spreads, led to a leader being run by the country's 'newspaper of record', in February 2018, calling for a public inquiry into the many high profile failings of Greater Manchester Police. Since then, there has been another two pieces run by The Times, in June 2018, the second of which, effectively, calls out Hopkins for a dishonest response to the first. Times reporter, Fiona Hamilton, pulled no punches as she ripped into the cornered chief constable.
It is a quite extraordinary state of affairs. In both cases the source was, again, Pete Jackson. Manchester's best detective, and head of the Major Enquiry Team, when he retired from the force.
GMP has also been under constant attack by the BBC, who have produced a number of radio and television programmes featuring alleged wrongdoing by the force. Inside Out producer, Neil Morrow, is a strong, articulate, well-reasoned critic of the running of the force, particularly on social media. ITV's award-winning presenter, Matt O'Donoghue, is another. Having worked at close quarters with the bereaved families of Jordon Begley and Anthony Grainger, Matt knows a great deal more than most about the inner workings, and 'cover-up' mentality, of GMP.
A piece highlighting the shenanigans over this peer review was due to appear in Private Eye on Wednesday 7th November, 2018. That has been written by another highly respected journalist, presenter and producer, Mark Gregory. It may yet appear, of course. Even in a modified form, once the final piece of police disclosure fits into this increasingly complex jigsaw.
Returning to the peer review, the significance of which will unfold, there has been a good deal of activity via freedom of information requests: The first on this topic was made in August, 2016 by William Crow. The response was "GMP can confirm that a peer review was undertaken by the MPS and the report is currently being drafted by them, with the lead being Supt Gary Randall. The report will include the terms of reference and findings, and will be presented to GMP when completed". It was supplemented, following a complaint, by this explanation: "Apologies – I did not think we held this information. It has now been confirmed to me that the review took place on the 9th-10th May 2016".
That disclosure was important. It revealed, taken at its face, that a six week review had taken just TWO DAYS. But as will become clear, the disclosure officer's addendum will assume much greater significance "I did not think we held this information"
A second request on this topic to GMP, made by the author of this piece, in August, 2016, and not finalised until the end of November, 2016 ran counter to that first request. A list of outside police force investigations, and peer reviews, belatedly provided by GMP in its response, did NOT include the Met peer review requested by chief constable Hopkins. It disclosed just two investigations: one each by Kent and Durham constabularies. The former almost certain to be the inquiry into corruption allegations made by John Buttress. That stated absence of data held, concerning the ill-starred Metropolitan Police peer review, also assumes importance as this story unfolds.
A similar request was made, simultaneously, to the three Yorkshire police forces, concerning outside force investigations, all of which can be characterised as troubled and time consuming. Including the perennially hopeless North Yorkshire Police being forced, by formal notice, to respond by the ICO, and, as such, amidst this maelstrom, the significance of the GMP misrepresentation was, regrettably, overlooked.
In June 2017, Mr Crow returned to the fray and the matter of the peer review was raised again via a FOI request. The GMP output was helpful to a degree, and disclosed that Supt Randall was part of a team of four; the GMP officers said to be involved were Head of PSB, Chief Superintendent Annette Anderson, Randall's direct contact, and Deputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling. The terms of reference for the review had been drafted by the Met, and were part of the final report. GMP concluded by saying that "there is no intended date for publication of this document". Which, may yet, prove to be a particularly clever choice of words.
At this point, there is still no intervention by the local newspaper, almost two years after their front page splash. Which now looked, increasingly, like a hollow GMP public relations exercise, in which Hopkins had tossed the local 'social watchdogs' (as journalists are sometimes dubbed) a tasty bone to keep them quiet.
After the furore over the Hopkins 'lie' about the first of the two The Times articles in June, 2018 it was decided, by the author of this piece and Pete Jackson, to re-visit the matter of the Hopkins/Met peer review. The lack of output by the force, and the local newspaper, was suspicious – and a quick assessment of the information available, via both open source and other documents sourced by each of the two, warranted a more in-depth investigation. This was to be assisted by drawing on the knowledge of a network of police and journalist sources – and another two FOI requests. One to the Met (in the event, it actually became two) and one to GMP.
The peer review 'net' was closing on Hopkins and GMP. It was not realised at the time that some big Metropolitan Police 'fish' might became snared, too.
The first request was made to the Met on 23rd July, 2018 and the second to GMP on 29th August, 2018. The latter is much the simpler to report upon: GMP have ignored the request completely. No acknowledgement, no finalisation, no explanation, no apology. NOTHING. The Independent Office for Police Conduct has, effectively, forced GMP to record a conduct complaint against their head of the information disclosure unit – and the ICO will shortly be issuing an enforcement notice compelling GMP to answer the request.
The inference being, of course, that to respond to the request is almost certain to disclose wrongdoing by very senior officers within GMP. Notably, the two Ians, Hopkins and Pilling.
This is the request in full:
"Dear Greater Manchester Police (GMP),
Please disclose, by way of the Freedom of Information Act, the following information:
1. Date of hot debrief given by Supt Gary Randall of Metropolitan Police (Met) and copies of notes taken at that meeting and/or reports made afterwards.
2. Pocket note book, or day book, entries of GMP officers present at debrief that relate to their attendance at/participation in the debrief.
3. Copy of Peer Review Terms of Reference (ToR) agreed between DCC Ian Pilling and DAC Fiona Taylor, together with email and/or letter correspondence between those two officers pertaining to the Peer Review ToR's.
4. Copy of Peer Review report delivered by Met to GMP. If it is intended to rely on any exemptions under the Act then I request that the following information is disclosed pending appeal against such exemption(s).
a. Date of report
b. Date received by GMP
c. Copy of Met's covering letter that accompanied the report.
d. Number of pages that comprise the report, excluding any annex, appendices.
5. Copy of any post-Peer Review report correspondence between DCC Pilling and/or DAC Taylor and Supt Randall.
The reader is invited to draw their own conclusions of the efficacy of that request and the likelihood of the dire consequences in responding.
The responses to information request to the Met, and its subsequent follow-up request, have also been, on any view, disappointing and frustrating. A sorry tale of deceit and subterfuge that exposes the country's largest police force, once revered as 'Scotland Yard', as a dishonest, incompetent shambles who will, it seems, go to any lengths, and put, often unsuspecting, junior officers in the firing line to avoid the exposure of senior officer misconduct.
This is the full text of the first request:
"Dear Metropolitan Police Service (MPS),
In November, 2015 there was widespread press, and broadcast, publicity concerning an announcement by the chief constable of GMP that he had invited the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to conduct a review of the operations of his PSB.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/…
In this regard, please provide the following information:
1. Date the Peer Review commenced.
2. The name(s)/rank(s) of the Gold Commander or Gold Command Group.
3. Date the Peer Review ended.
4. Date the Peer Review report was delivered to the GMP chief constable.
5. The operational name given to the Peer Review.
The sharp-eyed will spot that the answers to questions 1 and 3 were already available as open source material. But they were asked again as a 'test' of the veracity of the police responses. It was allocated a Met Freedom of Information Request Reference Number of 2018070000913. The response from the Met was suspiciously speedy and an Information Manager, Ian Burgess, said they did NOT hold ANY information about the GMP Peer Review at all. NOTHING.
At the time, that was viewed, understandably, as an outrageous lie and challenged accordingly. After all, GMP had provided responses 'to the world' (as all FOI responses are) that confirmed the existence of the peer review; named the investigating officer, the size of his team and the date it had taken place. But, as already discovered, all is not as it seems with this peer review. Nevertheless, the willingness of the police to lie about it is deeply troubling.
After receiving the complaint, the Met upheld it, changed their position and disclosed that information about the peer review is, in fact, held. Or, so they say.
The name of the person dealing with the complaint was, quite extraordinarly, redacted from the response. However, the Met now aligned themselves with earlier GMP responses and said that the peer review took place on 9th/10th May, 2016. There was no Gold Commander (or Gold Group) nominated and, it follows, no operational codename given to the investigation. The peer review report, or outcome, or both, was delivered to GMP on 22nd December, 2016, they said.
The officer who dealt with the internal review was Yvette Taylor, another Information Manager. Not, in any way, independent from the officer finalising the request, which places the Met in breach of the College of Policing's Authorised Professional Practice and the same organisation's Code of Ethics. Ms Taylor mis-spelled the name of the requester and, apart from that fundamental error, her response can be safely characterised as overly bullish; saying it was all just a mistake and denying that the Met had lied about not having any information about the peer review. On any independent review of the two responses, it would be hard to conclude otherwise. The first says one thing, the second says the complete opposite.
Having eked out of the Met that information was admitted as held, the second, 'killer', information request was made on 23rd August, 2018:
Having now established that disclosable information concerning the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Peer Review is held by MPS DPS, may I please make a further request? I accept and understand that this second request will carry a different reference number and may attract exemptions, redactions under the Act. However, given the nature of the materials requested to be disclosed, and my experience as an information rights practitioner dealing almost exclusively with policing bodies, it is anticipated that the effects of such exemptions would be very limited indeed.
1. a. Copy of all email and letter correspondence between DAC Fiona Taylor and DCC Ian Pilling where the communication contains reference to the Peer Review.
b. Copy of all email and letter correspondence between Supt Gary Randall and any GMP officer where the communication contains reference to the Peer Review.
NB: In response to journalistic enquiries made of GMP's press office, it has been confirmed that DAC Taylor and DCC Pilling were the two senior officers whom, between them, agreed the Terms of Reference for the Peer Review. In a previous FOI request finalisation on the WhatDoTheyKnow website, GMP disclosed that Supt Randall was the officer who carried out the Peer Review.
2. Copy of Terms of Reference
3. Copy of Final Report delivered by MPS to GMP on 22nd December, 2016.
4. Copy of any response(s) received by MPS from GMP after the delivery of the Peer Review.
5. Copy of amended Peer Review, if any such amendments were made.
The drafting of the information request was greatly aided by the response to a query put to the GMP press office immediately prior to submission of the FOI request. That had informed that Deputy Assistant Commissioner Fiona Taylor was the Met officer who set the terms of reference for the peer review, and had corresponded with Ian Pilling in so doing.
The FOI request is tightly drawn and involves, one might believe, information readily retreivable and disclosable. A report concerning a peer review that lasted just two days, which may have included travel to London and back, and, they say, a 'hot debrief', cannot amount to a great deal in terms of either content, or substance.
A well-informed police source has posited that the hot debrief might well have been an Oldham Road curry, and a few pints of lager, to send the Londoners on their way. It has also been hypothesised, on a more serious note, that if there was a hot debrief then it is likely that there was no intention by the Met to put anything to paper, subsequently.
GMP are a force, as seen in the recent 'body parts' scandal, acutely aware of the dangers of holding documents that could be disclosed under freedom of information law. They are prepared to burn them, it seems, rather than damage reputations of senior officers.
But a two day jaunt up to Manchester, a bit of 'lessons learned' patter, a jolly on the second night, and there you go: Job done. Peer reviewed. No paper trail, if awkward questions asked later by prying journalists.
Since the 23rd August, 2018 FOI submission, the Met has made a variety of excuses that, like the parallel GMP request, has necessitated the involvement of the IOPC and the ICO. A separate article on this website, 'Your cheque is in the post' covers, in detail, the chronology and full extent of the deceit engaged in, by the Metropolitan Police, to avoid disclosure of the requested peer review information (read here).
Tension between requester and public authority is now palpable. The request is also, by now, attracting considerable attention, and comment, on the Twitter social media platform. The Times, meanwhile, contacted the author of this piece, and Pete Jackson, and said they wanted to run the story. But still no interest from the supine Manchester Evening News.
It is now clear that, without the intervention of third parties, the Met has no intention of complying with the law, and thus disclosing the requested information. On 26th October, 2018 the matter was reported to the ICO. Apart from an auto-response, that has drawn no reaction, whatsoever, from the toothless 'watchdog'.
So, at the date this article is first published, on Sunday 11th November, 2018, and as the nation stands silent to honour our fallen, particularly those in the Great War that ended one hundred years ago, so too does the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police. Over disclosure of the materials that will reveal one of three things:
1. The peer review never took place at all. Previous responses by GMP to requests about it were deliberately false and, correspondingly, the first response by the Met was, in fact, correct: They did not hold any information about the peer review, as stated in their information request finalisation on 8th August, 2018. It should also be noted that GMP in one of their first finalisations also said they didn't hold any information. The request finalised in November, 2016 also made no mention of a peer review supposedly undertaken by the Met five months earlier.
2. The peer review did take place, but was a complete sham. A six week investigation, promised very loudly by chief constable Hopkins, was cut down to just two days. It is said to have taken place in May 2016. Six months after the 'all guns blazing' press announcement. The report of that review then took over SEVEN months to deliver from the Met to GMP. It can amount to very little, or nothing. Apart from the usual, all pals at the Palais, police investigating themselves, 'whitewash'.
3. The peer review did take place, but there was never any intention to produce a closing report. The hot debrief was all that was planned, and then executed on the second of the two days that the Met were said to be carrying out the review. Supt Randall may also never have left his New Scotland Yard office. It may have been a systems review that was conducted electronically, with a debrief via video conference. A tick-in-a-box exercise that is a long, long way short of what GMP's chief splashed on the front page of the local evening newspaper in November, 2015.
Manchester's finest have already said they have no intention of publishing the report, yet GMP's PSB is now engulfed in far worse scandals than they were in 2015. The Metropolitan Police, and almost certainly by now, the National Police Chiefs Council, are very likely colluding with GMP as to how reputational damage can now be limited, and the jobs of Ian Hopkins, and potentially, Ian Pilling can be saved.
If the peer review didn't take place at Manchester HQ, and a large number of police sources cannot find a single GMP officer that can say that it did, then the only feasible redress is resignation by at least one of the big two chief officers, plus at least one senior Met officer who has taken part with GMP in the charade over the past three months. The list of suspects is small.
If the peer review did take place, then it could still prove the straw that breaks the proverbial back of Hopkins. His standing as a public figure, and, more crucially, as a warranted police officer, has been seriously undermined by the series of stories in The Times. He stands accused of lying about the infamous Operation Poppy investigations. In the circumstances outlined in this piece, he would have conned the public of Greater Manchester over another promised investigation. Whilst all the time the dire situation in PSD – whatever spin he might try to put on it – just goes from very bad to even worse. The chief constable's position would, on any view outside of the police service, be untenable. Within his own force, and on the fringes, the private view of a significant number officers, past and present, is that he does not have the requisite competencies, and unimpeachable integrity, to lead the Manchester police. The peer review debacle very much underscores that view.
But the real losers in this sorry saga are the taxpaying public, whose confidence in the country's two largest police forces is certain to receive another knock and their belief in MP's, and other elected officials, such as the Mayors of both Manchester and London, further undermined as they all stand idly by whilst Acts of Parliament are ransacked by those they are paid to hold to account.
This is a story that, quite obviously, has still some way to run.
Page last updated on Monday 26th November, 2018 at 0650hrs
Picture credit: The Guardian Media Group
Author Neil WilbyPosted on November 11, 2018 November 27, 2018 Categories FOI and DPA, Greater Manchester Police, Metropolitan PoliceTags Annette Anderson, College of Policing, DAC Fiona Taylor, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Fiona Taylor, Freedom of Informatio Act, Greater Manchester Police. Metropolitan Police, Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, HMIC, Ian Burgess, Ian Hopkins, Ian Pilling, Information Commissioner's Office, John Buttress. Paul Bailey, John Scheerhout, Matt O'Donoghue, National Black Police Association, National Police Chiefs Council, Neil Morrow, Neil Wilby, Neil Wilby Journalist, NPCC, Pete Jackson, Peter Deja, Sir Thomas Winsor, Supt Graham Randall., Suzanne Mason, Tom Winsor, William Crow, Yvette TaylorLeave a comment on Mystery of the 'missing' peer review


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Added /alarm command line option.
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"The best investment I have made in myself in a long time"
These downloads are the best investment I have made in myself in a long time. First, they are extremely relaxing. I feel refreshed after listening to one.
Second, I find myself truly thinking or feeling differently about things... it is not a dramatic change, but noticeable to me... For example, the day after listening to the one about eating less sugar, I saw an ad for a large box of Milk Duds (my favorite candy) and the very first thought that ran through my head was 'Yuck, that is way too big a serving, how sickly sweet'... Then I thought 'WHOA!! WHO AM I?? I love Milk Duds!' But... I didn't crave them, looking at that ad.
Have I stopped eating sugar? No. Have I easily cut back on the amount of sugar I was eating? Yes! I am not craving sugar at all right now! It feels great.
A second example, the day after listening to the fruits and veggies one I did find myself really craving fresh produce, and the salads and the fruits I ate were extremely satisfying, where normally I'd have chosen ready-made foods.
This story came from Holly who is from USA.
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I knew I had a sugar addiction, comparable to smoking or drugs. I tried to get it under control for years, but I'd find myself reaching for the candy bowl or cookies compulsively and then beat myself up for it later. I found Uncommon Knowledge and purchased Sweet Tooth. It was my first purchase. It took 3 days/sessions and snap! I haven't eaten any candy, cookies, cake, ice cream, etc. for 3 weeks so far!
When I tell my friends and family, they just get the funniest look on their face. Some try to tempt me into eating my old favorites. I absolutely could not care less to begin eating sugary treats again! I wish I had tried hypnosis downloads years ago! My life has been truly improved and fast.
This story came from Angela who is from Idaho, USA.
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Roadtripping around Iceland with our friends the Straders will easily be one of my top favorite experiences, ever. The scenery is completely out of this world and larger than life in every way, and the wild beauty of the entire place will captivate me until the end of time. I'm convinced that Iceland is the perfect backdrop for couple's wanting something a little wild, a little unique, and a whole lot of beautiful for their wedding day, as perfectly portrayed by this elopement inspiration! Taking place at the soaking mists and thunder of the Skógafoss Waterfall, and then onto the craggy cliffs and jet-black sand beaches of Vík (I jokingly have named those cliffsides the Lego rocks or french fry rocks!), we froze together while capturing their love (luckily I had my favorite yellow sweater to throw on Eden so she'd be less cold!).
This moody fire-and-ice land will forever have my heart and soul. I already can't wait to return and photograph another couple's love in this amazing place!
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text:
There Is Power In Prayer
On February 21, 2020 February 27, 2020 By Heart Of WorshipIn Jesus, There Is Power In Prayer!
"The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]." (James 5:16 AMPC)
Never underestimate the power of prayer because prayer is making the Most High God get involved in everything that we think, say and do. Trusting in and of our ability, we are limited. But inviting Him into our daily dealings in life, He takes off the limitations of our natural capacity and takes us into His divine supernatural ability. Only then we can confidently say, "I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency]." (Philippians 4:13 AMPC)
I so love the passage in the Bible about Peter's miraculous escape from prison all because fervent prayer for him was persistently made to God by the church. It was the time when King Herod stretched out his hand to harass Christ's followers. About that time, James the brother of John was already killed with the sword. Because King Herod saw how it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. He had Peter arrested, put him in prison, delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.
"Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.
Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, "Arise quickly!" And his chains fell off his hands. Then the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and tie on your sandals"; and so he did. And he said to him, "Put on your garment and follow me." So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
And when Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people." (Acts 12:5-11)
Because the church prayed for Peter, he experienced a supernatural deliverance which he himself at first thought was only a vision. Oh how our prayers can move mountains indeed. How it can effortlessly set free those we are praying for to such an extent that knows no bound.
What struck me more was the thought that those who were praying for Peter were not even expecting him to be supernaturally freed. It was never in their wildest imagination that their prayers had that tremendous and powerful effect on Peter's situation. They were not aware of how their petition penetrated into the spirit realm that caused the natural realm to submit and align into what was happening invisibly.
"Peter finally came to his senses. "It's really true!" he said. "The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!"
When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, "Peter is standing at the door!"
"You're out of your mind!" they said. When she insisted, they decided, "It must be his angel."
Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. "Tell James and the other brothers what happened," he said. And then he went to another place. (Acts 12:11-17 NLT)
A lot of our "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor mind can conceive" answered prayers come across the same way to unbelievers. But how many believers respond the same way as well? Our minds have not been renewed nor reprogrammed yet to expect the unexpected that our prayers indeed avail much.
Stories like these in the Bible are written invitations for us to have a revelation of how powerful and effective our prayers can be. It gives us the confidence to pray and expect. God did not call us to presumptions. He called us to assurance that when we "CALL TO HIM, HE WILL ANSWER US AND SHOW US GREAT AND MIGHTY THINGS THAT WE DO NOT KNOW (Jeremiah 33:3). Come with the assurance are expectations as expressions that we believe what He has spoken, that He hears us when we pray and that He answers us when we do.
One day, I was driving to have my car checked. Just as I turned into the main street, it was bumper-to-bumper traffic due to fire that hit some houses nearby. The other side of the road was closed to give way to the fire trucks and ambulances.
As I was waiting for the traffic to move, a condemning thought came to me that I shouldn't have left the house, that I should have done it on the following week, or that I should have left earlier. Before I knew it, I started to feel frustrated. But the Holy Spirit quickened and awakened me to switch my thinking to think redemptive thoughts instead. The unction was so strong and the still small voice started to become distinctively almost audibly hearable that resonated in my heart. He said, "Why don't you pray for those who are going through the chaos of fire? Pray for the firemen! Pray for the paramedics! Pray that there will be peace and order!"
Hmmmm … I never experienced something like this before, but behold, He is ALWAYS doing a NEW thing in us and through us. He is always leading us to conquer new territories for the advancement of His kingdom.
Because I had a revelation of what happened to Peter when his church prayed for him, in an instant, courage and strength started to rise up within me. Then, I started to pray and declare, bind and loose. I so confidently believed in my heart that my prayers mattered regardless if I would visibly witness the outcome or not. I just knew that when we give voice to the word of God, both the invisible and visible realms respond to it. His Words are spirit and life, sharper than a double-edged sword. His Words are likened to water that quenches fire, like a sledge-hammer that pulverizes even that of utmost resistance. The power that flows in and through us is not of or from us lest nothing will be accomplished. But "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, THAT THE EXCELLENCE OF POWER MAY BE OF GOD and not of us." (2 Corinthians 4:7) SURELY "it is not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God." (Zechariah 4:6)
When I was done, I was exceedingly full of courage and strength, and was amazingly filled with joy. Glory to God!
Lesson learned: Never take for granted what we can do in such a time where we are in. I believe we are positioned by the Lord to be His mouth piece, His hands and feet, His glory carriers, His addresses in the earth, called to advance His kingdom by the power of our prayers.
When Jesus is our Good Shepherd, it is He Who leads us to be at the right place at the right time, doing with right thing, with the right heart, with the right thoughts coming into our minds and speaking the right words out of our mouths. Indeed, in everything we do, we shall NOT LACK, for in Christ, ALL THINGS CONSIST.
"You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God's favor] shall shine upon your ways." (Job 22:28 AMPC)
Happy ♥'s Day!
A Glorious Set Up

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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When using Joomla! with some Flash content, you may face problems which can be attributed to Flash. We often tend to find bugs in applications, which in fact originate from supporting technologies like Flash. This section illustrates these issues.


Working out is hard enough and needn't be made harder by using the wrong kind of shoes. In fact, using the right shoes that are suited to your workout can improve performance. Nike is a well-known brand when it comes to training shoes. Their products keep getting better as they constantly make new improvements that allow athletes to perform their best.
Different disciplines of training can call for specific gear and shoes however when it comes to cross-training, athletes require an all-rounder shoe that helps them do it all. Nike's recent attempt to design a shoe fit for many types of training is quite successful.
The Nike Women's Metcon 2 Training Shoe is highly durable and flexible which are the two main requirements for an all-encompassing training shoe.
The new design makes it lightweight yet durable while it gives a good fit without compromising on comfort. The mesh used for the upper part makes the shoe more breathable and keeps feet from overheating.
The show has Flywire cables which are Nike's latest innovation to increase support. The advanced outer sole is designed differently towards the front and heels to provide the perfect mix of stability and friction where you require it most.
Nike is set out to take cross training to the next level thanks to the amazing features of the Nike Women's Metcon 2 Training Shoe.
Cross training fanatics were eagerly awaiting Nike's training shoe that would end the hassle of switching shoes in-between work-outs.
The upper part of the shoe is made using a synthetic mesh that makes them breathable and promotes air circulation. The insanely popular Flywire cables are no gimmick. These thin fibers reduce the need for more material by giving immense support at the arch.
These Flywire cables are what makes the Nike Women's Metcon 2 Training Shoes their most lightweight shoe yet. Wide-toed athletes highly praise the highly inclusive feature of increased width because they find the conventional cross training shoe a tad bit snug to work out.
However, the increased width doesn't give comfort at the expense of stability. In fact, the well-structured interior of the shoe provides exceptional grip required in rope exercises during cross training.
The new design includes strong reinforcements around the forefoot to prevent tearing in those areas. This new feature was added to increase their durability and due to the tension that this part of the shoe experiences.
Nike has made a novel attempt to improve the outer sole of the Metcon 2 training shoes completely. The new design of the outer sole will help the foot adapt to different settings with its unique features. The forefoot part of the outer sole comprises of rubber that is stickier and has a flex groove design.
Combined, they provide the increased stability that is adequate for lighting heavy weights and running. No more worries about feeling 'wobbly' while performing squats, because the increased stability will help keep your feet firmly planted.
The drop-in feature of the midsole makes them highly suitable for rope climbing. The shoes also help reduce the friction experienced while rope climbing as well. The heels of the outer sole comprise of a high-density material that absorbs any reflective force and does not allow the weight to disperse inefficiently.
This feature allows you to have perfect movement compared to other training shoes that induce more spring-like movements. The difference in materials on the front, mid and heel of the outer sole will improve performance due to the friction being in all the right areas.
Another new feature of the Metcon 2 Training shoe is the increase of padding at the heels to provide more comfort and stability to lifters. These are highly effective for the exercises done during cross training that requires speed since they offer flexibility and stability to help you stay on your feet without holding you down. Click here to learn more about the product.
Users of the Nike Women's Metcon 2 Training Shoe have highly praised all of its features. Many women are extremely happy with the ability to design and personalize their shoes to their liking.
They continue to give it amazing reviews on how they no longer need to carry around different pairs of shoes to switch them mid-training. Many reviews comment on the stylish design and how it is more aesthetically pleasing compared to other cross training shoes.
The outer sole is the neatest feature for users regarding effectiveness as it helps give effective cushioning and stability for exercises such as lifting, squats, and pushups. Many are updating reviews by boasting how long their shoes have lasted due to the strength of the mesh that prevents early wear-and-tear.
The Nike Women's Metcon 2 is the most effective training shoe for cross training workouts. Those who complain of training shoes not being able to withstand their high-intensity workouts will be extremely pleased with the result.
While the high price may be a reason for complaint, the fact remains that this shoe can withstand all kinds of exercise during a cross training work out. Although the colors and design make for a very trendy training shoe, customizing your shoes to your liking will be an added cost which is understandable but important to know.
Cross training requires immense effort and concentration, so it's highly recommended to have the right pair of shoes since they have a significant effect on performance. The Nike Women's Metcon 2 Training Shoe is sure to fulfill all those needs and improve your cross training experience. To buy the product now, click here.


Once upon a time ago, I watched a show and came across a very talented young man. After many years, that show and that man have stuck with me. You know you've created something special, when something like a show and character, can stick with a person for so long.
I first saw Corin Nemec on the infamous Parker Lewis Can't Lose television series in the early 90's. He was such a witty character, I just fell in love. Corin has come a long way since his Parker Lewis days. The man has literally done it all. An artist in every aspect. A truly impressive, interesting human. His passion shines through as he talks about his work and art. It's a really awesome experience when you have the chance to talk with someone with so much passion for what they do.
I recently had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about some of the work he's done.
Do you have any favorite scenes from Parker Lewis Can't Lose?
Oh we did so many cool skits and really bizarre storylines. That's a real tough one. There was a couple, like when Weird Al Yankovic did a cameo on the show, to me that was really awesome because I was a big fan of Weird Al and his comedic songwriting and singing. Then we had the Energizer Bunny on one episode as well. I can't remember if they cut it out of the episode or not, but it was a real temperamental device to work with. you know the robot, it took a really long time for us to get it. I thought everything was going to be super simple, easy to operate, like a remote control car or something. It was far more complex than that but it was pretty cool to work with the Energizer Bunny. That was pretty awesome as stupid as it sounds.
Are you still in touch with any of the cast?
Myself and Abraham, keep in touch here and there, he played in Kubiac in Parker Lewis, but the individual I keep in touch with the most is Troy Slaten, who played Jerry Steiner in Parker Lewis, my kinda geeky friend with the magic trenchcoat. He's now a very, very well respected criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles.
You played in Stargate SG-1 for a while, do you have any favorite memories?
Stargate was a great show to work on, just in general. The quality of the production design on the sets and everything, the care and attention that was paid, creating worlds as realistic as they could get them. As an actor it's so much fun to play in those kind of environments, especially when you're on spaceships and on other planets with whatever their civilization was like. I know the character I played. they went to his planet, which was called Kelowna, named after a small town in British Columbia, Kelowna was sort of like in a late 30's early 40's art deco style stage, with the design of their buildings and stuff. It was just amazing, I mean it was really, really beautiful and when you work in those kind of environments, it's so much easier to believe what you're doing.
You had a recurring guest role on season 6 of Supernatural, what was it like working with the Winchesters (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles)?
Jared and Jensen are both really, really down to earth guys. You never know when you're walking into a show that's been on the air as long as they've been on the air, what the dynamics on set are gonna be like. I have done some roles on other shows, not many, the majority of the shows I've done guest spots and recurrings on and everything have been really, really great experiences and everybody's been very cool, but I have done a couple, I won't name any names or anything, but I have done a couple where the lead actors or lead actor or whatnot is a really, really difficult person and makes the entire experience difficult and kinda awkward and stressful, instead of relaxed, freeing, and fun. And working with those guys, because I believe that they really know how fortunate they are to be doing what they're doing in life and to be doing it on a show, that's as good as that show is as well, they don't seem to take it granted whatsoever, they seem to remain really down to earth, so walking onto that show, it was like I had already been on the show before. Everyone was really welcoming and very cool. I would have loved for that character to have developed further, to have been on the show longer, but based on the world they've created there, that character certainly may be alive somewhere out there (laughs).
You did Star-ving with David Faustino, any plans on ever doing a webseries again?
I would do another webseries, that show was so much fun to do. Unfortunately you can't even find it on the web anymore. I'm not sure exactly what the reasons are behind that. I know we had an ad revenue share deal with that show, that if anyone ever starting making any considerable amount of money off of it through ads, they would have had to share a considerable portion of ads with us. It may not be beneficial to them to leave it on. It did very, very well and right at its peak they started pulling it down, which was strange because we got nothing but really great reviews, even though it was quite an offensive show. I know we offended a certain tier of execs at Sony TV with some of our content, but all on our scripts were approved when we went into production. So we kind of figured they didn't read the scripts (laughs) and only got wind of what the content was when they saw they edited versions. With that said, we a lot of fun doing it. It was nothing but day in and day out laughter. And a lot of fun, poking fun at ourselves. David Faustino and I have known each other a long, long time and we had a blast doing it. I would certainly do something like that again, if it made sense.
You've played several types of characters, several different genres. Do you have a preferred genre?
I don't have a preferred genre. I love sci-fi, fantasy, action, adventure, that kind of stuff. It's always a lot of fun to work on those kind of shows, just because there's usually a little bit more going on in terms of the story than your average drama or whatnot. I really enjoy doing a little bit of everything. I like comedy a lot, I like drama a lot, and the combination of the two, it's always nice, being able to find ways to bring in some levity to a show that's more of a dramatic kind of genre. I just did a lifetime movie for lifetime channel recently, and we found moments within the rehearsal process to discover some slight comedic situations to be able to kinda lighten the load of the overall dramatic nature of the movie of the week. That kind of stuff is great, I love the whole of the process of developing character, figuring out how a scene works, all of that to me it's when I most at home.
Not really. It's one of those things I don't think that anyone knows it's a dream role until it comes across their desks. I mean I've written quite a bit of stuff, but even the stuff I written I didn't necessarily write for me, the characters or what I've written haven't been necessarily a dream for me, even though there's roles written for someone like me. Now that said, I enjoyed certain characters I ended up playing, like in the thriller The Chicago Massacre, playing Richard Speck, that dark, really dark twisted character, who was really out of his mind, it was an extremely fun role to play and one of my more favorite characters that I've had the chance to play, oddly enough. I didn't know that going into it, I didn't realize that it was gonna be that much fun to play that dark of a character. It turned out to be an absolute blast, even though there was some really disgusting scenes and disgusting content in the film.
How did you get into graffiti?
I got into graffiti very young. I was really into breakdancing and the early hip hop culture when I was in Atlanta GA in elementary school and middle school. I had gotten into that scene really heavily and got in a little breakdancing crew and all that, and had my breakdancing name Kid Cruz (sp?) and we would kinda tag our breakdancing name on books or folders or on paper ya know whatever, and we would come up with cool ways of writing it, because it was the time period where the graffiti scene in New York was exploding, we were seeing things on the news about it. What really got me into it was this graffiti artist named Seen, out of the Bronx, NY, who had gone to Hollywood and bombed the Hollywood sign back in the early-mid 80's and it made nationwide news, and I remember seeing it on the news back in Atlanta, and I thought that is amazing, (laughs), I was completely blown away. When I moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles, breakdancing had become kind of taboo at that point, but a lot of the breakdancers had gravitated towards graffiti art or tagging and I just fell right into that as an artist, I've been drawing my whole life. Both my parents are artists, my mom was a graphic artist, my dad an architect really, and he became an production designer in the film business, so it's just what I gravitated towards, it was a cool medium that I really enjoyed. I liked painting on large scale, I liked the adventurous nature of it having to go out and drive to places and find places to paint. There's a whole interactive quality to it that I don't know if it's the same as working in an art studio. It's a whole different experience, and you have to let go of your art as you do it. You could spend an entire day, a half day, you could spend 3 or 4 or 5 days on a painting but when you leave it on the street there's no guarantee of it's survival and you have to let go of it's creation, no matter how much you time or how much you love it, you gotta let it go because there's a 90+% chance that it won't survive even a year. And that's a pretty intense kind of artistic experience, letting go of the art you create as you create it, instead of holding on to it or wanting to sell it to someone and give it to them. In the graffiti world, it's doing it for free, spending your own money putting something up there for other people to enjoy for free. It's a whole different world, a whole different experience, it's something that I love very much. As the graffiti scene developed and there became more mediums out there, which have been around a long time but haven't been as embraced by graffiti world, with stencil art and poster art and sticker art, the kinda more graphic design stuff has been, is being embraced by the graffiti culture a lot more now and that's been a lot of fun, to get into the graphic nature of it, the stencil art, the poster art, it's been a lot of fun to branch out into those other mediums.
Can you tell me a little bit about Renegades?
Well, Star Trek Renegades was a fan financed Star Trek based theories. I didn't have anything to do with the origination or production of it, really I had nothing to do with any of that. I just came on board because I had a couple of relationships with some of the people involved. I just worked on it solely as an actor. I don't know much other than it's been pretty well received by the fans. I, myself, haven't even seen the full episode of the first one but it was enjoyable to work on. I don't know what the future holds with it but we'll see, we'll see what happens.
It's tough because when you do go renegade on something like that, you do rub other people the wrong way, like that are working on the Star Trek movies and stuff like that. Like none of them wanted this to happen, from what I understand, so they really did go renegade, it's a great name for it. They went against the grain of how things are normally done in Hollywood and they just said well ok if no one in Hollywood wants to throw money in our pot, we'll just make it on our own. And with a brand such as Star Trek as they started with, I'm not sure if they're allow to use the brand for the second one, but it was pretty cool that they went for it and did it anyway, and they didn't just shelve it and move on to something else. They get a lot of credit for that. It was a ballsy move.
Are there any upcoming projects you can share with me?
Yea, I have a number a films coming out. One sci-fi film called Drone Wars, which was a lot of fun to do, a little action, adventure, post apocalyptic kind of vibe, it could be coming out early next year from the looks of it, I think they're paying a little more attention on the CGI on this one than from some of the other ones I've done. Then I have Doomsday Device that I just finished a little while back, an action comedy, sort of like the same thing as like Big Trouble In Little China or something like that, and that was a lot fun to do. And next month I go to work on called a film Girlfriend Killer down in Florida. Then I have another horror film called Haunted:333 that should be coming out next year.
You know at the beginning of this interview, I was pretty nervous, as I've been a fan for several years. But right away, he made me feel at ease. As though I was talking with a friend I've known for years. He has a very intriguing mind that I hope I get to pick again in the future.
Thank you again Corin, it was truly a lot of fun.
Thank you! He's so much fun to talk to. Very interesting.
He has such a brilliant mind and personality. Genius! Great interview!!
I agree. I could have talked to him all day but I didn't want to take up his lol. Thank you!
Woohoo! Back in the day, did you ever watch his TV movie "For the First Time"? I think I must have tape recorded it because I remember the movie well enough that I must've watched it over and over.
Also that other tv movie with him and Rick Schroder, that was a doozy as well.


Prancer loves big machines, and what gets a person in the mood for Christmas like a snow plow?
Prancer has no problem with her place on the team, but she wants to experience some of the wonderful new vehicles she has been seeing every Christmas Eve.
When she enters the human world, she assigns herself to drive a snow plow. It is everything she wants at a safe distance from any and all human interference. She wants to watch them, not be among them.
It worked out well for her until the night she hit the snowman on the side of the road, and it was occupied.
Merkoss thought he was on his way to intercepting one of the reindeer with a few weeks to go. He leaves the workshop and ends up encased in a snowman, moving through time as well as space. After being struck by the snow plow, he finds himself facing his target, but he only has twenty-four hours to convince her that she should return to the workshop. Time is of the essence.
Penny nodded and pressed the concentrated magical snowflake between her breasts.
With a grin, she climbed the ladder and situated herself in the cab, the magic of the snowflake told her what she needed to do and her spirit of adventure started up the monster under her.
When it warmed up, she checked her maps and rumbled forward, out of the yard and into the sea of white. Between her map, her compass and her GPS, she got on the highway, put the blade down and started plowing.


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Today's News: Our Take - Torchwood's John Barrowman to Guest-Star on Scandal
How will OPA handle Captain Jack?!
John Barrowman will guest-star in an upcoming episode of Scandal, executive producer Shonda Rhimes tweeted Tuesday night. Details on his role are being kept under wraps, but Barrowman will appear in the episode slated for Thursday, May 9.
Fall TV Scorecard: Renewed or canceled?
"John Barrowman is here working at Scandal today. Life is good. #torchwood #captainjack #iamanerd," Rhimes tweeted.
Barrowman, well-known for playing the time-traveling Captain Jack Harness on Doctor Who and Torchwood and who currently recurs on The CW's Arrow, was previously cast in the Shondaland pilot Gilded Lilys, which failed to garner a pickup at ABC last pilot season.
Barrowman is the latest in a long line of stellar guest stars during the ABC series' second season, including Lisa Edelstein, Kurt Fuller, Eric Mabius, Sam Page, Brenda Song, Sam Anderson, Tom Amandes and Fringe's Jasika Nicole, who will appear in Scandal's return episode on Thursday, April 25.
Scandal airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.
View original Torchwood's John Barrowman to Guest-Star on Scandal at TVGuide.com
Eric Mabius
Tom Amandes
Sam Anderson
Jasika Nicole
Torchwood: Miracle Day


I'm a mom. A mom with real problems. I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. And I suspect you aren't either. If there was an award for real moms like us, surely you or I would win.
My life isn't perfect. One of my triplets died. That's about as real as you can get. Some days, I don't even want to deal with life. Grief is like that. Some days, I don't want to shower, or get out of bed and start the day. But I do.
That's right. Some days I don't shower. Or get out of my pajamas. Although, I do brush my teeth. There's that, right? It can be easy to feel sorry for myself because with two preemies, we don't get out much due to having to limit their exposure. But I won't.
I don't cook dinners. Or go grocery shopping. That's my husband's job. I loathe cooking. I like to bake though.
I can be selfish. Yep. There, I said it. My husband always seems to get the short end of the stick in our marriage (in my mind anyways – he swears it's not true). But, not my kids. They always come first.
I sometimes think of how hard it would be to still have Carter with us. The two survivors are quite a lot to handle, and while I love them, there is a lot of therapy, doctor's appointments, etc. due to them being so premature. I feel both relief and intense guilt when I think these things.
I blame myself for losing Carter. My body failed my babies – who came at 28 weeks – and ultimately, failed Carter because he only lived 49 days. It took a long time to get over that.
You see, I'm real. As real as it gets. And, ladies, let me tell you something. It's perfectly okay to be real. Real moms make mistakes. Real moms fail. Real moms lose it; break down; hide in the bathroom and cry. Real moms aren't always put together, on top of things, or the queen of their social circles. But, one thing I'll say for real moms – we love our kids and we'd do anything for them.
What's your real mom moment? Or, as I like to call it, your #momfail moment?
Oh boy, tonight was an epic fail for me. Still not feeling great after my bout with stomach flu this weekend and my hubby out helping a friend buy a car. Kids are in typical after dinner crazy screaming pre-bedtime heathen mode. I found myself yelling "stop yelling!!!" And it went downhill from there. After getting everyone bathed and in bed, I finally came downstairs to collapse only to have to chase Griffin back to bed 5 times with threats of spankingif he didn't stay put. Can we just count all of this evening as one big #momfail.
Love you, Robin! You're a great mom, and I love all your great advice. Hang in there – take a deep breath – and enjoy some quiet time if you can. Hugs!
Haha. Love you too, Lindsay! Seriously need to get together again soon!


This section will help you identify key ways to prepare for the test. We will provide tips and test taking strategies to deal with stress and anxiety. There will be lots of tools and resources to explore!
After you complete this PAA module you will be directed to practice tests for reading, writing, math and review on those subjects as needed before you take the TSI (Texas Success Initiative) assessment.


Search engine marketing without copywriting is pointless.
If the internet bubble boom has taught us nothing else, it is that random metrics mean nothing. Hits, page views, visitors...all mean nothing. Sales are the only thing that matter.
Decent copy is far more important than search engine marketing is. The average website conversion rate is less than 2%. Imagine if 98% the people who went to Wal-Mart left without buying anything.
After you build pages that convert then you can really start to afford to compete with a larger marketing budget as you reinvest profits back into marketing.
You can not afford to have random text arbitrarily on the screen. Your page copy has to do the selling that a salesman would do. Your copy is your voice.
In spite of what anyone says or how much spam one person can deliver, it is compelling words that make a website profitable.
If you want to do your own copywriting I suggest picking up a copy of Persuasive Online Copywriting. I also reviewed a few copywriting books here.
After I originally rewrote this particular page multiple people contacted me in the first few days wanting to hire me as a copywriter.
I do some copywriting with my SEO services, but I usually do not offer copywriting as a stand alone product. I provide a much better value as a link builder / SEO than I do as a copywriter.
If you specifically need a copywriter I recommend contacting Heather Lloyd-Martin. If she is unavailable I can point you in the direction of someone else.