“this article is in part fabrication and part supposition ... the matter has been reported to the PCC”

“@Maxmin - I have asked several of the Scruff Supporters (SS) if they would be happy if someone rolled up and took over their front garden because someone decided it wasn't being used properly.

As always no reply!"

I've replied before, I'll repeat my answer as obviously you're struggling to read. If you did that, and did it properly, you could trespass, and I would have to have you evicted. I could then claim damages against you. The Cwtch community centre however is not on domestic property and that's a HUGE difference. It's on a property owned by an alleged successful businessman who's not done anything with it for two years. If this didn't make national news, he probably wouldn't have even found out for another two years. If you camp in my garden, I'll notice straight away or within 2 weeks if on holiday. Squatting happens all the time, no it's not always right and can cause a lot of emotional distress. In the Dolphin Hotel's case, I doubt the owner is currently living in fear or worried about homelessness as a result.”

“Maxmin: I fully agree that people working hard and providing jobs offer the best economic benefits for a community. However, empty properties do not.

As you have stated, areas that are not vital become slums and ghettos, and that it precisely why buildings should not be left boarded up for years on end – Visit Detroit. You'll understand what I mean.

Good catch regarding my typo. I'm not a good speller at the best of times, and unfortunately the spell check doesn't pick up on Freudian slips. HAHA.

Cheers for your comments – food for thought.”

“" vitality of a community at the expense of promoting an individual's right to profit."
What a ludicrous statement by Tapei thingy. Communities where everyone is poor are not very vital, they become slums and ghettos.
People striving to better themselves and acquire wealth better the community by providing jobs– and that does far more for the vitality of the community than a bunch of self serving wasters illegally occupying someone's property.
What you and others like you fail to grasp is that these people have no right, either moral or legal, to decide how a person's property should be used.

I have asked several of the Scruff Supporters (SS) if they would be happy if someone rolled up and took over their front garden because someone decided it wasn't being used properly.

As always no reply!

I like your bit about " Squatters are merely a system of a deeper problem," Freudian slip or what.”

“Rather than showing contempt for the squatters, perhaps it would be wiser to examine the whole picture of squatting in a wider prospective.

Properties do not exist in isolation, and a boarded up building has an adverse affect on a neighbourhood. In the case of the Dolphin, for example, the owners are obviously waiting for a good time to sell. That is their prerogative, but such a decision shows that they are focused purely on personal profit, while showing no sense of social responsibility or respect to the community where the hotel is located.

In order to solve this kind of malady, perhaps local authorities could levy heavy taxes on properties that are boarded up for a given time. In this way, owners would be 'gently' persuaded to offer an empty space for temporary community use. If this practice became an accepted norm throughout the country, then empty city centre properties would become extinct and squatters redundant.

Personally, I don't believe that squatters who set up community centres are unemployed wasters as many commentators have harshly suggested – if they were, they would be more likely sitting at home watching TV and smoking cigarettes, not spending their time offering free refreshment and organizing social events. Personally, I feel that the kind of squatters who have taken over the Dolphin are a natural response to a failure in the system to ensure the vitality of a community at the expense of promoting an individual's right to profit.

I don't pretend that finding a balance between protecting a community's interests along with that of an individual will be an easy task, but I feel that it is something that definitely needs to be examined. Squatters are merely a system of a deeper problem, not the cause.

Finally, I'd like to thank all the commentators for offering their opinions. I have not always agreed with them, but I have learned a lot. Cheers.”

“Hadoken

I think you'll find the posts that have been removed are those which are slanderous ( insisting the present owner is in prison for fraud) or urging others to commit unlawful acts ( come down and I'll tell you how to commit trespass)”

“But *****monster
If these people wanted to do something that would really benefit the community then there are plenty of things they can do without causing distress and upsetting a lot of people with their unlawful actions.

They can volunteer to work in hospitals, they can volunteer to work with the Salvation Army who do a fantastic job helping the downtrodden, they could volunteer their services to clean up the streets or tidy the gardens of the elderly there are a thousand and one things they can do – but of course none of those things would lead them to appear on the front pages of the papers trying to act like Robin Hood. That's known as doing a Diana!

A man I was honoured to call a friend was Jeremy Beadle. He laboured tirelessly to help those less fortunate than himself and he didn't shout and scream about it. We all knew he raised money for charity but even one of his closest friends Stephen Fry didn't know that he had in fact raised over a £100 million – and he did it all without appearing on the front pages of the newspaper, breaking the law and yelling he was doing it for others. That's known as doing a Jeremy.

If these people genuinely want to help others then let them have the guts to tell us what exactly they have done in the past.”

“by fred65
"...You are questioning the ethics of the Evening Post! It was you lot that posed for their photos "ah"..."

Excuse me? Have you got proof of this? Has my picture featured in this rag without my knowledge? 2007, that's the last time my picture was in the paper and that's only because the post was covering the gig at the Liberty featuring The Who. I'm waiting to hear about all this posing I've done for it.

"...Oh we cant have a business making profit can we! The most important thing in life is to get young vulnerable boy like Caradoc and teach him about Dialectical Materialism "yes"!! FACT every country that has embraced Socialism has ended up as a cess pit and after 13 year we all now know what a Nut case a supply teacher and a ships steward are capable of and the only hope you have is to blame it on who ever..."

I was actually talking about Media ethics and how the Media twist news to sell more papers. I have no problem with people making money but typically you don't ask, you just assume. Don't let the truth get in the way of a anti-left wing rant, right? You don't seem to have a problem with large businesses such as the media throwing ethics out of the window, however you demand greater morality from smaller organisations. Somewhat imbalanced POV you have there.”

“I think that a bunch of people setting out purely to help others with no self-interest at all should not be victimised in this way. An empty unused building is now being used for a good purpose...

There were sewerage problems there when the hotel was running, and as far as I'm aware the Cwtch crew tried to resolve them before using the water system. Clearly on an industrial waste water system of that size there will be teething problems if there were issues that have gone unresolved for years.

I completely advocate what the crew there are doing, it's great to see people actually doing something positive rather than just moaning and complaining all day long - and with the personal risks that squatting entails too. Why is it so hard to accept people who are community-based rather than money-oriented?

Good luck to the Cwtch I say!! If the powers that be decide to evict the Dolphin so that it can sit there empty and unused with no purpose whatsoever is the best way to go about things, then it just shows where the rich's priorities lie.

pob lwc!”

“The evening post website is a joke, loads of perfectly fine comments get removed. What's the point in having a forum section if you allow alternative opinions to be removed?

Jesus, stick to covering cats stuck up trees, better still, why not promote Skidz go karting circuit once again?”