David Bartlett

Business Development Manager, Business Link Hampshire

Board Member, Havant Borough Partnership

Tuesday 10^th April 2001

Dear David,

Since I spoke to you last November, and soon afterwards, plus my E-mail of 25th January and my letter of 30^th January 2001, I have heard nothing from you. Mind you, Havant Borough Council and Havant Borough Partnership have ignored letters written a couple of months ago.

This E-mail has grown rather large but there are matters you probably do not know about and others may be interested in the background. The general heavyweight approach, attachments, etc., is down to technical limitations. If it were not for Havant's actions and lack of response, actions, assistance, etc., from and by others, including Business Link, this would not be the case.

From the E-commerce Meeting at the Marriott Hotel, Portsmouth, last October, I understood Business Link Hampshire was supposed to help with Web Sites, etc. I also thought it was part of Business Link's remit to help business. Mind you, Havant Borough Council and Havant Borough Partnership should already have done so, along with providing other assistance, particularly on the publicity front.

The Web Site:

is basic and functional.

Primarily, it was built using Microsoft Word. I have even managed to get my mind round Meta Tags and put those into the HTML myself.

However, while the Web Site scores highly in online checks in many respects, it does not do so with the Home Page under an HTML check, presumably because it receives the most changes during frequent updates of the Site. Despite those problems the Site functions well enough. I shall have to ask some computer magazines how and why it manages to do so.

There are other problems with it in that I do not have adequate facilities to include illustrations and I would like to put something positive about Havant in the Site. The primary function of the Site, as I have said in the past, is to help launch my replacement career after my engineering career was wrecked by Havant, along with my project.

My Web Site was never meant to be anonymous as I am seeking publicity for my second career. The complaint side was, to a large extent, incidental. It just happens to be part of the story

I trust that the people of Hampshire will appreciate what Havant Borough Council and Havant Borough Partnership have done for the County. The International publicity could have been so much better.

I had wondered if Havant would try to have the Site closed down. However, since large corporations have been unable to do so with other peoples Sites (as in Mr Holt's article and in others on the Internet) I thought that unlikely. Besides, that would mean going to Law and, as I reasoned on the Site, what Judge or Jury would put much credence on someone who claimed professional engineering qualifications to which they were no entitled, wrote letters on photocopies of other people's notepaper, etc., or the Council that supported them.

As far as the book is concerned, the manager/owner of the Stellar Gateway bookshop in Southampton said it would "go a bomb" in the United States. A prominent American Businesswoman agreed. A Business Link Hampshire Advisor agreed. Many other people have been of the same opinion.

During the discussion with the Business Link Hampshire Advisor, I said I was not sure what "going a bomb" would be in practice. That started a reasoning and discussion process, which went, more or less as follows.

He said that he thought one per in a thousand but one in ten thousand was too few. Assuming the population of the United States to be three million that worked out between 30,000 and 300,000 copies. We agreed to split the difference at 100,000. As I recall we agreed that a likely split between hardback and paperback sales would be of the order of one-third and two-thirds. Assuming cover prices of £20 and £5, respectively, and a royalty of 12.5% that comes to £146,000. Which over a 24-month period of sales averages some £6,000 per month or about £200 per day. On that basis I have lost something like £12,000 since the letters to Havant, etc., were sent at the end of January and the beginning of February, all of which have been totally ignored.

Of course that does not include the obvious deductions but neither does it include related income which would be bound to accrue. Nor does it include my engineering and Professorial salary, which the main Technology Diversification Centre at the University would have brought me. An honorary title would also have guaranteed publicity.

Neither does that include any sales or spin-offs in Britain, Europe, Canada, Australia or elsewhere, where there is bound to be a great deal of interest. There is a natural connection with Australia as Emma, our daughter, is now out there for a year and sending frequent E-mails. So, for increased tourism to Germany and the South of England from Australia, etc., ……. as with everything else Hampshire has only to assist a little or remove any Havant inspired blocks, or provide ways around them.

The point being that it is easily arguable that my current losses are running at a minimum of £200 plus per day compared with what they would have been had my project and career not been wrecked by Havant Borough Council. Those losses would also not be running at that level if I had been given the assistance requested in terms of Web Sites and publicity. Actually, were those matters in full flow, which they would have been now but for Havant, you could quite reasonably triple or quadruple those figures.

I need to upgrade the existing Web Site. I also need to build a Site for Lorelei and for my engineering interests. The material is mostly ready; there is plenty involving Lorelei. The Sites have been started (just) but help to finish them would make a great deal of difference.

Okay, so my non-engineering involvements are unusual. That is precisely what makes them valuable to the region, as well as myself of course. Actually, unique would be a better adjective. What competition have I got? If Hampshire cannot capitalise on that and market it what does it say for business acumen in the County, quite apart from the huge dents in the County's business morality, ethics and credibility already created by Havant.

I was intrigued to find that a "Lorelei, Richard King" search on Yahoo/Google resulted in an E-mail I sent to the "Sons of Lorelei" Web Site coming top of the list. That is something else I will have to ask the Computer magazines about. (The organisation is a historical re-enactment group, which is currently re-building its Web Site. Doesn't that reinforce even more, as if it needed reinforcing, the Tourism potential in all of this.)

My non-physical aspect even connects with "conventional" business in that respect. The "Business Meeting" I travelled to accompanied by Lorelei and described in the Anecdotes was a Hampshire Economic Partnership meeting at Farnborough.

In case you are not aware already (it would not surprise me if you and other Havant Borough Partnership Board Members had been mislead) you should note the following:

Havant has known about my other aspect from the time they ripped me off (at least) and some of them, both Council Officers and Councillors, did before that. The letters and other material exists to prove it and there was a natural split in the summer of 1998, which would put these events in what is proposed to be the third book.

The article in Uri Geller's Magazine of July 1997, "Living with Lorelei", was their choice but it was also "coincidentally" emerging as the obvious choice for the title of the sequel. When someone is around every second or third day on average, at least, "living with" seems to be appropriate.

During the summer of 1998 there were a couple of films on television on a Saturday afternoon, "Brigadoon" and a Barbra Streisand film, "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever", which I had heard of but never seen (it involves a few lives, other lives, in case you were not sure). Unusually for me, I stayed in and watched both. ("On a Clear Day ….. " was also on last Saturday while the draught of this E-mail was growing on my computer, though that is probably not quite a strong enough coincidence for inclusion in the Coincidences Page of the Site. I will have to think about that one.)

Early the next week I had a meeting with Roger Sherlock of Havant Borough Council. I mentioned the films because the second one had given me the title for the third book, "On a Clear Day". Not that I can see forever but when "Upstairs" are helping, or it is meant to be, I can see a great deal further than I can "normally". That ranges from a few hundred miles when linked to my German telepath acquaintance, Marie (see Web Site), to somewhat further and tens of thousands of years with Upstairs help, or, spasmodically, on my own. (It is all in the diary manuscripts, etc., plus a little on the Web Site, of course. Trevor, who introduced me to Marie, has been with her in other times - me as well I think. I once described what I saw of one of those times they were together. What I saw tallied with what he knew of it in terms of relationship, location, appearance, clothing, etc., but I missed the "when" by a thousand years or two. Well, you can't win them all.)

I told Roger about the films and the idea of a title for the third book, adding, "Next year we'll have to have a chat about how I write you up". I was not joking but the unpleasant events set in train by the handing over of my project to Havant Borough Partnership have delayed matters somewhat, at great cost to the region and to myself, though they cannot be stopped.

When I was working with Roger Sherlock he was, as far as I was aware, reporting directly to Frank Campbell, Director of Policy. My understanding is that the decision to hand my project over to Peter Marshall, of Havant Borough Partnership, was taken well over Roger's head.

The manuscript contains incidents such as a long conversation with Reverend Tony Gardner of the United Reform Church Havant, during a Sports Day at Bosmere School Havant during the summer of 1993. Tony was a fellow Governor of the School at the time, as was, and still is, a Councillor who has also known about my other involvements since those days. In fact she seemed to have little problem with my experiences as she said she remembered being walled up in a previous life; at the end of it presumably. I have mused since then that perhaps she was involved with an organisation not unlike Havant Borough Council in that life as well and that was the reason for her being walled up. (A sense of humour is one of the contributing factors to me surviving being ripped off by the Council. Lorelei's is similar, though I doubt that will be of any surprise to those who understand the nature of our relationship and connected matters.)

I also spoke to Tony at his house on a couple of other occasions and he had no problems with my experiences. Although he has moved back to Yorkshire you are free to check such incidents matters with him as well as anyone else involved. Yes, every bit of the ten-year story (something over half a million words now and still rising) is that checkable, provable and true.

Actually, this autumn is the tenth anniversary of my visit to the Healing Arts Exhibition which accelerated this train of events and autumn next year will be the tenth anniversary of when Lorelei turned up in this life, at least in the visible sense. When someone suddenly appears in front of you in full colour and detail down to individual hairs and skin texture, then says, "You don't remember me, do you?" followed by feelings and memories that leave you in no doubt whatever that you do know her and have done for very many centuries, it is a somewhat shattering experience and extremely difficult, effectively impossible, to dismiss.

Should you doubt the possibility of any of this, my sanity or whatever, I can introduce you to scores of people, including psychiatrists, psychologists, PhDs, Professors, etc. (particularly through the Scientific and Medical Network) who will have few, if any, problems with it. I have already met several of them and, occasionally, had incidents happen in their presence and involving them. Would Dr Julian Jessel-Kenyon (Complementary Therapy Centre, Southampton), Dr Christine Page (Complementary Therapist and Author, Medical Columnist), Dr Peter Fenwick (Emeritus Consultant Clinical Neuropsychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, Consultant Clinical Neurophysiologist at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Author, etc.), Elizabeth Fenwick (Medical Care Writer and Author) and Viscountess Astor (Complementary Therapist) do for a start? They are among many of suitably qualified people I have met.

During the last School Governors' meeting at which I was present, I told them about both aspects of the story and the Web Site. They were entirely happy for Bosmere School to stay as it was in the book, i.e. as itself rather than a pseudonym.

As far as the Technology Diversification Centre is concerned, that could have been resolved long ago. Councillor Mark Shorten organised a meeting with Robin Smith, Chief Executive of Havant Borough Council. As I recall the meeting, at which Councillor Shorten was present, Mr Smith said he would personally drive to Brunel University to discuss the matter with Professor Eric Billett. As I gave Councillor Shorten a left back to his house afterwards he said, "I think he is going to set up a hothouse route for you to Brunel". "Hothouse" was Councillor Shorten's phrase and I took it to mean a period of about six months during which I would leave the Havant end of the project and go to a main Centre at the University. It fitted with my interpretation of the meeting and would have been an acceptable compromise. (I had always intended to "bequeath" the Havant part of the Centre to the region anyway and it was obvious that, by taking the project in a completely different direction, effectively a replacement project, and dispensing with the expertise and contacts on which the original proposal was founded, Havant was going to wreck the local end of it.)

In the event, Mr Smith did not go to see Professor Billett but 'phoned him instead. The subsequent letter I received from Mr Smith made little sense and, in my opinion, it misquoted Professor Billett's views, though that is obviously checkable.

More recently a Havant Councillor said that if someone in authority told the Councillors that a wrong had been committed the Councillors might be able to do something, even at this late stage. The views of two University Pro-Vice Chancellors are not enough it seems. What the point is of electing Councillors unable to make moral or value judgements I have yet to work out; quite apart from them having limited to negligible influence or control over the appointed part of the Council. He also said that he would speak to the Leader of the Council. Needless to say I have heard nothing as a result of that. However, it seems that if you and others actually tell the Councillors that certain matters are wrong, including qualifications that are not, letters purporting to have been written by someone that are not, multiple breach of Code of Conduct (which could not be applied due to the "MIEE" on the business card not being valid), etc., etc., they may even yet stir themselves and act. Note that one of the above Pro-Vice Chancellors E-mailed Mr Marshall, Managing Director of Havant Borough Partnership, asking him to see that I was treated all right on the grounds that the project would not have existed without me; obviously I was not "looked after", quite the reverse. (More detail is on the Technology Diversification Centre Page of the Web Site.)

Mind you, soon afterwards, another Councillor said, "I am reducing my commitments", "I represent XXX", (another Ward of Havant to the one where I live), "I'm shopping", all in the space of three minutes. How is that for lack of concern and impotence? At the end he also said he would speak to the Leader of the Council; no response from that either, of course.

Some time previous to both of those conversations, I asked a Councillor I have known for a long time if she could do anything. The response was a plaintive, "No-one has told me anything". I left the obvious, "Then why not ask?!" unspoken; it seemed pointless.

So, to an extent you and the other Board members have been "dropped in it", though I still do not understands why it has gone so quiet. Does Havant think that ignoring problems solves them?

I have not heard from you for a long time. However, as I said during one of those conversations of last autumn, I want to move on and develop my new career. That is partly because it will give me the public and financial clout to resurrect the Technology Diversification Centre Project, which I would like to do if future developments allow me the time.

My non-physical aspect is worth vastly more than my engineering interests to are to me. The potential is at least in the hundreds of thousands of Pounds and, quite likely, much more than that. It is also worth a great deal to the South of England. So I wish to push that first and market it at the earliest opportunity, like now. I think there has been more than enough delay one way and another.

That is why the expanding Web Site and why I have included some of the New Hampshire Press in the circulation. There may be interest because of the Hampshires and Portsmouths connection; there may not. However, at least they have the virtue of being beyond the influence of Havant. Mind you it is more than conceivable that Havant will become at least as well known as Portsmouth, as well as Southampton and Winchester.

It would only ever have taken one, two at most, Councillors, Havant Borough Partnership Board Members, a senior Local Politician (Mr Willetts?), or any other reasonably prominent figure to by-pass or break through any restriction, impediment or whatever on the publicity front. The same situation still applies. It could be done in twenty-four hours, forty-eight at the most.

From what I have already learned our story could easily go national within days of a first break. As someone who should know told me, "When it happens, it will happen very fast".

Many opportunities have already been missed. I wish to get on with it as quickly as possible.

In my E-mail to Susan Achmatowicz and others, I said there was still time to make a contribution to the region for Easter, from the publicity and tourism point of view. I also pointed out that it would require those who have ignored me for months to move in hours. I have been ready and waiting since then but there was no response.

I am writing to you on the assumption that neither you nor Business Link Hampshire, nor the other members of the Board of Havant Borough Partnership (other than those who are part of the Council of course) supports past actions taken by Havant or any attempt to cover it up.

Is that assumption correct?

In the meantime, thank goodness for the Internet, even if you do have to teach yourself how to build a Web Site and find your way around it by yourself.

Yours sincerely,

Richard King

Janet Anderson, MP, Minister for Tourism

Mark Oaten, MP

Chris Huhne, MEP

Caroline Lucas, MEP

Peter Skinner, MEP

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne, MEP

Daniel Hannan, MEP

Mark Watts, MEP

Nirj Deva, MEP

Dipl.-Ing Wilfried Wittkowsky, Webmaster, Wesermarsch (Havant's German Twin Town)

Susan Achmatowicz

Paul Evans, K2 Computing Solutions

Ann Brine, Lawton Communications E-Marketing

Bruce Parker, BBC South of Westminster

South of Westminster, BBC Television

BBC Television News

Julian Clegg, BBC Radio Solent

Meridian Television

Morgan Holt, Daily Mail

Peter Conradi, Sunday Times

Alyson Marlow, Southern Daily Echo

Kathleen Bailey, Seacoastonline, New Hampshire

John Brennan, Seacoastonline, New Hampshire

Paul Briand, Seacoastonline, New Hampshire

Hampshire Chronicle

Max Breeze, Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Peter Robertson, Chief Executive, Hampshire County Council

County Councillor Ken Thornber, Leader, Hampshire County Council

Mr L.T. Garland, Labour Party, Hampshire

Liberal Democrats, Hampshire County Council

John Hampshire, Conservative Party, Hampshire County Council

Gwyn Scott, Labour Party, South East Area

Nicola Horsey, Tourism Manager, Hampshire County Council

Robert Hillier, Chairman, Business Link, Hampshire

Roger Sherlock, Economic Development Officer, Havant Borough Council

Anne Thurlow, Secretary to the Mayor, Havant Borough Council

Christine Dier, Tourism Officer, Havant Borough Council

Howard O'Keeffe, Principal, Havant College (and Havant Borough Partnership)

Sue Spencer, Chief Officer, Havant Council of Community Support

(and Havant Borough Partnership)