Glasgow must be an unbelievably stressful place to live and work. Then again, their politicians are not as tough as their popular image.

Steven Purcell, the leader – or rather, ex-leader, of Glasgow City Council- so ‘alarmed’ members of his family when they visited him at the week-end, that they persuaded him to resign from his job on Monday, citing ‘stress‘. What was the sight that greeted their eyes?

Before announcing his resignation, Mr Purcell, described as a ‘rising star’ of Scottish politics, took care to hire a team of high powered lawyers, and a crisis management PR firm, to handle his resignation for ‘health reasons’.

Health reasons? It is a catch-all, closely followed by ‘to spend more time with my family’. The last person to bail out of Glasgow politics on ‘health grounds’ was David Marshall MP. An event which was closely followed by the revelations of his tangled financial affairs.

Purcell has already survived extremely stressful situations publicly, when his marriage to Katrina Murray collapsed in 2006 following his realisation that he was gay – and did so without high powered lawyers or PR crisis management firms.

The mind boggles at what could be behind this latest drama. Twitter rumours speak of an embargo on the main stream media.

To be sure the blogosphere will oblige.

"Chemically dependant" Purcell swaps top Glasgow job for rehab

March 5, 2010 at 19:01

1
English Viking March 2, 2010 at 14:55

What’s he really done.

Has he been looking for badgers?

2
jailhouselawyer March 2, 2010 at 15:08

Am I to understand that he only found out he was gay after he was married? Late developer? More like a mariage of convenience on his part!

3
Vimes March 2, 2010 at 15:11

Oh dear, how sad, never mind – I’m sure that the Weegies will survive, somehow.

4
Alan March 2, 2010 at 15:18

What is it with modern politicians and their necks that are too feeble to hold their heads up straight when being interviewed. You’re not all Princess Diana!

Perhaps he is coming out as hetro. Or the family walked in to see him wearing an England shirt…

If he’s hired lawyers and PR people before resigning let’s hope taxpayers aren’t footing those bills.

5
Bugger (the Panda) March 2, 2010 at 16:58

My money is on the unfolding scandal at the SPT which is the Strathclyde Partneship for Transport and is the severely truncated offspring of the late SPTExecutive which was kneecapped because, well because it somehow was not working.

Its job was to dole out public subsidy to private contractors serving the Strathclyde area.

Although the board consists of different political hues it is the private fiefdom of Labour (West of Scotland ya bastard subsection).

They seemingly have been mispending (allegedly) the taxpayers money and jaunting around the World and clocking up big private car miles checking out Shanghai Maglev trains and Manchester transport infrastucture, coincidentally just before, during and after Glasgow Rangers European Cup Final match.

Both the Chief Executive and his Deputy have just resigned because of ill health , both West of Scotland Labour Mafia, and have been replaced with more of the same.

Alex Salmond the Scottish FM said in the Holyrood Parliamentary chamber that the SPT needs to sort themselves out before he has to. I paraphrase because the Herald website is down or at least their lead story on Purcell is down. Thick as thieves they are in West Central Scotland.

Now the man who runs it all has also resigned on the grounds of ill health.

Must be something in the water.

Incidentally this story was bubbling around the Scottish Blogosphere before the “Scottish Useless Press are Us” got belatedly on the story.

Something still to “come out” methinks but I am not betting on The Herald or Pravda Brown Broadcasting Corp doing it.

Just watch the Scottish blogs. There lies the way forward

6
Anna Raccoon March 2, 2010 at 17:28

Thank-you bugger, I was hoping for an orange stuffed in the mouth and black silk stockings…..but a financial scandal will do I suppose!

7
Vimes March 2, 2010 at 18:01

West of Scotland NuLab members going to Rangers games – shurely shome mishtake?

8
Alan March 2, 2010 at 18:18

Did Purcell and Alex Salmond put aside any differences for their visit to Sri Lanka last year to see Glasgow get the Commonwealth Games or were they chummy beforehand and have since fallen out?

I thought SPT sounded familiar. There was this post from Subrosa last month: Corruption within the Labour Ranks

9
Thaddeus J. Wilson March 2, 2010 at 19:59

Anna, I’m more than happy to oblige. Your place or mine?

10
Anna Raccoon March 2, 2010 at 20:30

Er, make it a Satsuma if it’s you – I’ve heard tales…….

11
Anna Raccoon March 2, 2010 at 20:32

Thaddeus,
Ever since your comment we’ve been hit by a rash of viagra spam….just saying like.

12
The Mole March 2, 2010 at 23:23

Sorry to digress from the Purcell story but as far as you SPT hypothesis heres a couple of things regarding the SPT story that you wont find out elsewhere When RC, who along with various others has since resigned coz the shit hit the fan, took over the reigns of the SPT he took with him a whole entourage of cronies, all arselickers who done little but happily lorded over the workers ( most of whom know and have been doing their jobs for years ) telling them how to do their jobs “better”

At the instigation of RC the SPT suddenly found the need of a “new” media team consisting of an army of lawyers and in charge of them a certain ex Reporting Scotland reporter ( on a bloody fortune as well as a massive ego trip ). You can find out for yourself who he is ( he voices over the SPT ads )

Anyway there was a time when you could trust the local media, The Evening Times always hated us ( Fair dos if it was justified ) and could always be trusted to print a damning story of either SPT management/workers or both. To a lesser degree the same could be said of the D Record & BBC.

On more than one occasion, since RC took over the reigns, several people have approached the local media including those mentioned with damning stories about the management, state of the trains, etc. but the media team with its army of lawyers ( led by the EX BBC REPORTER ) managed to bully the local media and keep them on message. In fact the said reporter is supposed to have also used his contacts at the BBC to suppress stories and even find out who the moles were.

It says a lot for the Sunday Herald ( who I believe broke this story ) to have stuck their two fingers up to RC and his bully boy mafia who took over the SPT and shame to the Evening Times, D Record, BBC Scotland, etc who must’ve known about this story ages ago. I mean everyone ( and I do mean everyone like me ) working in the SPT knew about it but was amazed that the local media wasn’t bothering their shirt tail with RC’s antics.
Only when the shit really hit the fan and it looked like RC and his cronies ( well some of them anyway ) were already gone did the papers and the telly have the balls to say something about it ( something they should have been talking about from the start if they were anyway responsible news reporters )

Should you be worried about this? YES! Most certainly! That news can be prevented from getting to you by a couple of lawyers and an ex beeb employee using his contacts within the media?
You should be worried about this
The Beeb at a national level should be worried about this ( that one of their local Beebs can be swayed like this )

Incidently, as you probably know RC and a lot of his cronies have “retired” or are unavailable due to “health reasons” ( reminiscent of this Stephen Purcell thing? Hmmm! )
Well anyway this certain SPT media man ( ex Beeb ) has been ( since this expenses thing involving his pals who got him his highly paid job at the SPT ), unavailable for comment!
You couldn’t make it up! A media man who is unavailable for comment!
Oh well! I guess if his £80k job goes tits up at the SPT he’ll get back on Reporting Scotland ( I mean he is still pals with them )

Now if we could only get rid of the £18k Underground Poet employed by RC at poll-taxpayers expense ( bet you didn’t know about that one and I aint kidding, you really could write a book about RC, his friends and their goings on )

13
Govanmac March 3, 2010 at 01:08

There is a lot more to come out in this one, wait for the fireworks…..

I understand a top woman labour councillor’s husband who is an MSP is a very good friend of ’stressed out steven’.
I can’t say too much on this at the moment. Why do you think he has surrounded himself with a legal team?
The papers where about to run a story which will rock the Labour party to the core, and there are people moving heaven and earth to stop it.

Watch this space…

14
Brian March 3, 2010 at 01:33

“Thaddeus,
Ever since your comment we’ve been hit by a rash of viagra spam….just saying like.”

Anna,
If an infite number of monkey typists bashed away for eternity they would produce the complete works of Shakespeare before that one sublime sentence. You are a genius.

15
Subrosa March 3, 2010 at 01:34

Aye I’m sure there’s a lot more to come out on this one. SPT is perhaps the straw which broke the camel’s back. Labour are playing it very cool. Iain Gray’s comment on radio was visibly lacking in praise for Purcell and Alex Salmond sounded excessive in his compliments by comparison.

Think I’ll hold off for a wee while before I post on it, but it won’t be a Scottish paper which finally cracks the facts.

16
Bugger (the Panda) March 3, 2010 at 07:51

Over at Rab;s Rant he thinks that Stephen Purcell as been drinking too muck Coca Cola.

17
Bugger (the Panda) March 3, 2010 at 09:29

http://joanmcalpine.typepad.com/joan_mcalpine/2010/03/the-blogosphere-is-bristling-with-rumours-as-to-reasons-for-stephen-purcells-resignationtory-bearis-very-unsympathetic-to-ru.html

the missing link

18
The Mole March 3, 2010 at 22:16

Well you know what they say about cocaine being the drug of choice of people with too much money/people who are paid too much.
Maybe we are paying our Councilors far too much, just as we are our MPs

Obviously these are just random statements and I’m in no way whatsoever referring to Mr Purcell “condition” ( …Hmmm! )

19
Gill March 4, 2010 at 11:47

Sorry to depart from the Steven Purcell chat but I felt I had to respond to the SPT “mole” rant on the misuse of public money with regard
to SPT’s poet in residence. Firstly I work in the private sector and do not have the insight into SPT, which the mole claims to have. But like most people, I do pay taxes and have issues with how that money is being spent. However, I cannot see how a poet at SPT, who’s remit includes engaging Glasgow’s school children to become more involved in literature can be viewed in a negative way. Sadly many children leave school with literacy levels that are way below the expected standard, which inevitably leads to them being left in the margins of society. Should an initiative that tries to address this be discouraged? My nephew’s class at Bellahouston Academy, (where the catchment area is one of the most deprived in Europe), had such a positive experience when they entered the poetry competition organized by the SPT poet.

One of our most famous exports is Rabbie Burns – I loved the subway’s homecoming tribute to the bard – a pop art Burn’s carriage. A subway journey is an opportunity to engage with many people across the strata of society and crucially tourists. It is the perfect platform to showcase Scottish talent and we should be maximising that for the benefit of our tourist industry.

Is it so bad that a drab subway journey is brightened with a humorous poem? Should it not be applauded that a poet is exposing children to literature, by using a journey on the subway as a starting point?

I’m sure the mole and perhaps others feel that it shouldn’t be down to a transport body to address literacy in our society. But thankfully some people have the ability to see the bigger picture. Well done SPT.

20
Vimes March 4, 2010 at 12:01

Well, it could be worse – at least it’s not Simon Armitage.

http://www.spt.co.uk/culture/poetry/

21
The Mole March 4, 2010 at 22:16

“It’s not a drug problem!”
Kinda reminds you of the old joke about the alcoholic responding to the accusation that he had a drink problem …
“Ah can drink! Nae problem!”
Hmmm…

Of course IF it were a drug problem ( hypothetically of course ), they’d have to go to great lengths to cover it up coz it’d lead to a whole mess of other problems

Druggies by the nature of their habits tend to almost inevitably come into contact with a helluva lot of unscrupulous characters leading the druggie open to being manipulated either by blackmail, coercion, etc.
Can you imagine ( again hypothetically of course ) someone quite high up in government ( or local government for that matter ) with such a problem, and someone unscrupulous finding out. A dead easy way to get the said druggie to turn a blind eye to dodgy contracts, dealings, etc.

I know if I wanted to sway a contract my way ( and I were dodgy enough ), I’m sure I’d find the possibility that the guy who could either award or sway a contract had such a “problem” very useful
Of course, if such a thing were to be found out, they’d have to pull out every stop to cover it up! Media companies lawyers, etc. to make sure it didn’t get out.

Of course I’m speaking hypothetically and am not in any way referring to Mr Purcell

Who exactly is paying for the Drink/Drugs rehab clinic, the Media advisers and the army of lawyers involved ion all this? The taxpayer ( either at a local or national level )? I’d really like to know, wouldn’t you? You’d think the media ( TV and papers ) IF THEY HAD ANY BALLS Would be asking this, wouldn’t you?

Oh and BTW Gill I really do have quite a bit of insight into the SPT

Glad you like the Rabbi Burns wallpaper coz that that is twice as thick as kitchen cellophane and not much stronger and is about the only thing keeping the bodywork of the cars together. The cars are falling apart. For years the cars were resprayed, repainted but for the past ten years or so the bodywork was found to be falling apart, splitting, rivets holding parts of the cars together being exposed, etc. Respraying couldn’t cover this up so covering up the problem with cellophane makes the problem go away ( out of sight out of mind )

That’s the upstairs of the cars downstairs is much …Nah! It would give you nightmares …it really would!

Everyone that works within the SPT is fighting a losing battle with aging infrastructure and the last thing we needed was RC and his friends walking in taking over out of nowhere ( for no good reason ) and trying to justify themselves, their cronies and their exorbitant wages!

As I’ll mention later my priorities and I know those of the people who physically work ( the plebs ) in the SPT are a safe and efficient service getting from A to B for our passengers, the priorities of RC and his cronies were and always ever were RC and his cronies.

Not to worry that staff aren’t being given the proper tools to work on the system they can always reassure themselves that 18K of taxpayers money is being paid to a poet

Poets by all means should be involved in schools, libraries, bookshops, etc.
Maybe in an ideal world other places as well.

But for me I’d rather see for the Undergrounds passengers ( of whom include the loved ones of myself and the workers in the underground ), being treated to a safe and efficient service getting them from A to B, and in this respect poetry is totally irrelevant.

This should take priority over an Underground poet

But I guess Gill your priorities are different from mine and those most of those who work in the SPT
I guess you’d be quite happy to go to Kwikfit, and see some poor guy struggle to fix your brakes using inadequate, out of date, wrong size tools while some git stands beside him giving it “Ode To A Haggis”!
Whatever floats your boat I guess
Well, the scenario is really, really quite similar considering many tools/equipment that the Underground workers use can date back to the 1950s prior to the 1977 refurb and they get told that there is insufficient money for new tools

The pen might indeed be mightier than the sword in your philosophy Horatio,
but it doesn’t really do you much good when your boss tells you that the company cant afford to buy the right size of spanner ( but can afford an £18k poet ), does it!

Just a thought …
But if you are gonna be a corrupt politician and get up to a lot of skulduggery ( again hypothetically speaking ) then there is one rule of thumb that you’ve got to abide by ( as we’ve already seen from the Mps expenses fiasco ) . That is make sure everyone around you has got their fingers in the till too, encourage and condone them doing so !

That way if you get caught then everyone around you has to shut up and back you up for fear that the their shenanigans wouldn’t’t get found out.

One domino falls then they all do! Gotta make sure that first domino doesn’t fall then

When I see one politician fall and I see another speak highly of them rather than say “They got caught out!” I automatically think “What’ve you got to hide?”

Well, when I heard on the TV that RC and his cronies were “well respected” I and others at the SPT could only laugh! They were only well respected by their own and those who they looked after, certainly not by those who genuinely worked at the SPT

22
The Mole March 4, 2010 at 22:17

“Rabbi Burns”
Ha! Sorry I meant Rabbie Burns
Ooops!

23
The Mole March 4, 2010 at 22:36

What exactly is a “chemical dependency” if it isn’t a drug problem?

Is it when you have a compulsive disorder and feel an uncontrollable urge to rub Swarfega into your testicles?

…The plot thickens!…

24
Gill March 5, 2010 at 00:20

“As I’ll mention later my priorities and I know those of the people who physically work ( the plebs ) in the SPT are a safe and efficient service getting from A to B for our passengers, the priorities of RC and his cronies were and always ever were RC and his cronies.”

Where would you draw the line Mole? Should SPT replace the drivers and ticketing staff with machines like London’s DLR in order to pay for the crumbling infrastructure? I’m sure that would save a lot more than the £18,000 that the poet in residence recieves. I hope not, personally I like to have a chat with the lady on the ticket desk and I appreciate that the driver often delays pulling off as I’m running down the stairs at St Georges Cross. But I suspect Mole, that it’s just a bitter hatchet job you have in mind for the poet .

“Now if we could only get rid of the £18k Underground Poet employed by RC at poll-taxpayers expense ( bet you didn’t know about that one and I aint kidding, you really could write a book about RC, his friends and their goings on )”

It seems a bit bizarre that you would choose to voice your anti poet views on a site partly devoted to political poetry! I wish I could think of something other than humpty dumpty, to rhyme with numpty. But hey ho I’m no poet!

25
Gill March 5, 2010 at 00:35

http://www.theglaswegian.co.uk/glasgow-news/school-news/2010/02/18/garnetbank-primary-pupils-go-underground-with-spt-bard-john-rice-102692-22052721/

26
The Mole March 5, 2010 at 00:57

Hmmm!

Yes I hate poets!
I really hate poets!
Their alliteration, assonance, measure and rhyme!
They choose their words, however absurd
There’s much more merit to gazing at turds
Their existence sticks in my craw
Their efforts make me guffaw
Yes I hate poets!
I really hate poets!
‘Stead gimme “ra footie” each and every time.

Ho Hum! Maybe not, lol!

NO! I ain’t against poets or/and poetry

I like poetry! I really do ( despite my pathetic effort )!
But there’s a time and a place for everything

But if I go into an ice cream parlour and give the guy behind the counter my money I expect a bloody good ice cream! I’d be peed off if he tried to distract me from a substandard ice cream with a poem( or for that matter a story, doodle, etc. )! I’d just want the ruddy ice cream that I’d paid for!

Go to buy a three piece suite? “Yes Sir! Here it is! Ok this one is crap but I can recite a couple of lines of Tam O’ Shanter to you! To make sure you‘re getting your moneys worth!”

So, like I said, you would rather go to Kwikfit, and see some poor guy struggle to fix your brakes using inadequate, out of date, wrong size tools while some git stands beside him giving it “Ode To A Haggis”!

P.S. Re my poem I don’t really like football and I’m really sorry but I couldn’t rattle off a Haiku so quick

27
The Mole March 5, 2010 at 00:59

Gill?

You aint the particular SPT poet in question trying to justify yourself are you?

28
The Mole March 5, 2010 at 01:05

As for my previous statement

“What exactly is a “chemical dependency” if it isn’t a drug problem?

Is it when you have a compulsive disorder and feel an uncontrollable urge to rub Swarfega into your testicles?

…The plot thickens!…”

I’d love it if it transpired that he’d had a thing for rubbing Vics VapoRub into his testicles!

Now that IMHO would be something he could be admired for!

He’d be a man after my own heart then!

Erm! Not that I’ve ever done that myself you understand!
( …Well not yet anway but it has given me an idea! )

29
Gill March 5, 2010 at 08:02

No I’m not the poet in residence. I just feel that it shouldn’t be a choice between a modernised subway system and a poet in residence. We’d all be behind a modernised subway system, but I’d like my own journey and that of visitors to be the most positive experience that it can be. If that involves a bit of poetry, some art installations and the occassional subway festival, then I’m happy to pay my taxes . I just don’t want to live in a grey drab world.

“But if I go into an ice cream parlour and give the guy behind the counter my money I expect a bloody good ice cream! I’d be peed off if he tried to distract me from a substandard ice cream with a poem( or for that matter a story, doodle, etc. )! I’d just want the ruddy ice cream that I’d paid for!”

I hear TGI Friday are recruiting. If you really hate your job – a change is as good as a rest. No union though!

30
Josh H March 5, 2010 at 13:37

English Viking, that is terribly brilliant.

31
gg2000 March 6, 2010 at 00:39

whit on earth is the pope going to think of us.he might cancel his forthcoming visit to the city.i was so looking forward to the headlines.”anti gay pope refuses to allow gay council leader to kiss his ring”.