FORWARD INTO BATTLE

13-11-2009

Birmingham Council’s pisspoor jobs freesheet/propaganda rag Forward hasn’t been published since June – but it’s still causing ructions in the corridors of power.  Conservative backbenchers want to know why thousands of pounds is being spent on consultants to decide the magazine’s future.

Forward started life under the previous Labour administration as The Voice, and was an attempt to bypass the cost of recruitment advertising in local newspapers –as well as providing a handy PR tool.  Not to mention being useful as cat litter.

It mutated into Forward when the current Tory/Lib Dem coalition assumed control in 2004, and although leaders of the “Progressive Partnership” had been critical of the publication when they were in opposition, they soon realised its potential for self promotion.

On one memorable occasion, pictures of leader Mike Whitby appeared on seven of the first eight pages.

The paper was also criticised for taking advertisements for loans aimed at poverty-stricken householders.

With financial pressures starting to take their toll, the paper was suspended in June, and cost conscious Conservatives assumed it was being quietly scrapped – following the lead set by Boris Johnson who abolished a similar freesheet in London.

Instead the leadership decided to hire consultants to investigate the future of Forward – at considerable expense to the hard-pressed Council taxpayer. 

Cue angry messages from Tory backbenchers demanding to know how much the whole exercise is costing – and wanting to find out who made the decision to commission consultants in the first place.

Fear not – The Stirrer is now on the case.

SHOULD FORWARD BE SCRAPPED?  DISCUSS THIS ON THE STIRRER FORUM