George posted the following:"It might interest you to know that I'm no longer a member of the ICG I've resigned from the committee as well as the party Dan. I've done this so as not to give the little Napoleons such as yourself(the other two or three you know only to well)the amunition to attack Phil Andrews and any other members of the ICG."Daniel what you know about me could be written on the head of a pin with a jackhammer. But one thing I hope you and the mods have learned is that I won't go quietly into the night. I would like to thank my friend Simon for sticking up for me and refusing my resignation from Ivytag. I would only have hoped that others had the Gonads to do the same. I must confess to you Daniel that it is very hurtful when you find the Icon of a party that you trusted and believed in turns out to have feet of clay."BTW Daniel it was only a game and I must confess I've been more than a little abrasive towards you and others on this forum and for this I apoligise."Whether you forgive me or not is completely immaterial if your goal along with the others was to drive a wedge between me and Cll.Andrews believe me you have achieved your goal in fact you have scored a hatrick."Irrespective of the fact that he has had a pop at me, completely unjustified and rather cheeky in my view, I don't see anything in such a post which deserves to be censored. George is indeed a very warm and caring human being, although I'd be the first to admit that this does not come across very well in his postings.Although I stand by my view that he has not handled this situation well, it needs to be stressed that George has been the victim of quite a vicious "wind-up" operation which sadly he has rather walked into.Having been singled out by the moderators to sign and return a letter explaining that he understood the code of conduct, he asked why (didn't we all?) and has not received the courtesy of a reply. He became upset by this and began to post on this forum in defiance of the moderators. He posted in his usual, rather abrasive way. Those who do not know George as some of us do (he is actually a retired, disabled man who has recently undergone traumatic surgery for a very serious condition), perhaps understandably, have formed a view of him from his postings which do not befit the real man.Responding to requests from certain posters, and having had a frank private discussion with George, I asked him on this forum to desist. He did so. No sooner had he gone than certain people on this forum - one of whom clearly has quite malicious intent, one only ever seems to post about George, and the other two probably do not even exist - rushed onto the forum with indecent haste to provoke him by attacking him in his self-imposed absence. George, in my view, should have sensed the trap and walked clear of it. Sadly he didn't, which made my task of exposing these spiteful characters a lot more difficult.George has been accused of being racist towards the Irish. When I pointed out that he is Irish this became the "southern Irish". When asked for evidence his accuser retorted to the effect that "the posting has been deleted and I didn't keep a copy". Nobody else seems to have seen it, and I strongly suspect that it is a figment of his accuser's imagination. I certainly have never heard George making racist comments towards southern Irish people, and as someone whose ancestors hail from that part of the world I would probalby have noticed if he had. George has tendered his resignation from the ICG committee and from the organisation itself. Well, I've thought long and hard about this this evening and I have asked him to reconsider. He has in my view been guilty of an error of judgement, but it is also my opinion that are far ruder people on this forum whom his detractors have actively praised and encouraged. If George is thrown to the wolves whose head will they ask for next? One of them has already suggested banning Paul Fisher, Simon Anderson, Andrew Sibley, Sarah Felstead, Jim Lawes, Justin Harris and myself as well as George (actually I always considered Justin to be fairly critical of the ICG and is certainly not a member, but maybe "Alan Barry" knows something I don't?). I think Simon is largely right. There is a game plan at work here.There is a solution to this for those who are prepared to listen. George should desist from posting on the forum whilst he clears up the matter of the "Code of Conduct" with the moderators. As his councillor I will happily do this on his behalf. If (I should say "when") those who have called for him to leave try to incite him to return, I and others will draw attention to their activities. George should not rise to the bait. The game plan ends here.In the meantime, if Jim's idea of organising another TW8 get-together comes to fruition, can I make a bold suggestion and ask that George be invited? I believe most of the decent contributors here will see him in a different light once they have met him in the flesh. As for the wind-up merchants...well, they can buy their own drinks.
Phil Andrews ● 7131d