Nest of Vipers

Quite a lot of noise and information flying about concerning the mess that seems to be circulating around Cllr Hassan Ahmed, Nottingham Equal and the Council for Equality and Human Rights Nottm and Notts.

Firstly some good news. CEHRNN have managed to get a critical report about them amended, according to the Post. The report, purportedly an 'Equalities Impact Assessment' was a major trigger factor in CEHRNN losing their funding from the council.

Have to say, in my experience as a manager, I've never before seen an EIA used in such a way before. As CEHRNN's entire reason for being is equalities, the EIA became a wholesale review of the organisation's operations which isn't really what they are for.

But I digress. The original report claimed that the Police had been critical of CEHRNN's decision to demonstrate against the EDL, whereas in fact no complaint was ever received from them. As a result a paragraph was changed from this -

"Nonetheless, the general feeling shared by NCC and the Police was that the CEHRNN’s presence and strategy on 5th December 2009 was unhelpful and was contrary to that agreed by the local authority and its partners."

to this

"Nonetheless, the general feeling was that the CEHRNN’s presence and strategy on 5th December 2009 was unhelpful and was contrary to that agreed by the local authority and its partners.

Comes across as a bit begrudging huh? But pretty much all of the weight of the conclusion is lost by the fact that there is no evidence that the police shared it. Yet you'd hardly notice from the rather paltry amendment of the report.

Anyway, as I say, CEHRNN had their funding cut in a decision in which Cllr Ahmed was involved. I've written before that Nottingham Equal might well be a competitor organisation to CEHRNN so there might be a bit of a conflict of interest there. What's more, Nottingham Equal were one of the organisations that Ahmed 'forgot' to mention on his register of members interests, he was in fact a company director. He had added it by the time of the decision on CEHRNN's funding but only because the Post forced him to by blowing the lid on it.

Ahmed has since resigned as a director of NE. And now, with some inside knowledge, Nottgirl writes that NE are to get a significant chunk of funding from the council. The decision has yet to be published but it will be interesting to see if Ahmed's fingerprints are all over it. Perhaps he can be of more use to NE in an informal capacity?

And finally, and again thanks to Nottgirl as following her hint I went and spent a whole pound of my own money on a Companies House document, I've found out a little more about who really is behind Nottingham Equal. The latest return shows that their Chief Executive Officer is none other than Tyron Browne, formerly of Nottingham City Homes dodgy tenancy slam dunk fame. Isn't it reassuring to know that public money is going to such safe hands as these two eh?

Update - well worth reading this by Alan a Dale, which fills in some further gaps in the web of intrigue