Webeurope: friend or fiend?

[Dawg]

Is Karl Winn, of Webeurope, having a Ratner moment?

"Karl Winn, 60, said he would rather 'recruit ex-drug dealers, convicts and child molesters' than employ former servicemen or women."
Daily Mail

Or is he entitled to a make a stand based on his principles?

“The reality for the families of their victims is that there will never be any justice, and there never will be any closure, for the loss of a son, a husband, a child, or a family member who has fallen victim to British Military personnel who are going beyond "just doing their job".
Webeurope press release

Understandably unpopular with readers of The Mail and The Sun, and probably a few others, who amongst us would be brave enough/principled enough/stupid enough/ up their own arse enough to do the same?
Would you go to Webeurope for a website? If you had one would you remove the credit so as not to alienate a good sized proportion of the UK population?
Does it actually make any difference to anybody?

 

[Rainbow Chasers']

In a business sense, he has committed suicide. What fool would make statements like that and link it to their business??

I disagree with his views - soldiers are only doing their job, not a nice one, but they can hardly resign! It isn't the soldiers he should be raising issue with - its' the politicians that put them there! Soldiers after all, are just a weapon - if someone is shot, do you blame the bullet? No! You blame the one pulling the trigger....in the case of war, that is the politician!

But I guess it is a free country, so he can spout all the views he likes - in his case, I cannot see it making him any friends, and I thing he is digging a very large hole.....and from what i hear, he has many soldiers waiting to back fill it!

I wouldn't fancy being in his shoes right now!

 

[cjd]

Seems like he's mixing his beliefs with his business and publicising both.

Never heard of the guy until now so in a way it's working for him.

Would I care if I had a web site from him? - doubt it. Would i choose him now? nope; website design needs a personal recommendation in my view. (That's why ours is so Ratners - don't have any friends.)

 

[Rainbow Chasers']

Don't think it will work that well for him........he lives only 1/2 a mile or so from 40 commando base. I used to live near taunton, and they are very proud of their military connections and have a very strong military community.

According to the papers he was taken down all the signs outside his business in fear of reprisals. Knowing what they are like round there - he should avoid dark alleys!

Irony is - with every serviceman up in arms throughout the country and baying for his blood, he needs a bodyguard! Except they are all ex-servicemen!! lol!

 

[ChrisSW15]

Irrespective of his political views, you have to question the judgment of someone who's going to go out on a limb to express such views so publicly - and then add it to his company website!

He's getting some cheap publicity out of it, but I can't say I'll be giving him a call anytime soon!
Aside from impacts on potential customers, I wonder if he's considered the issues this could cause him for recruitment: If you were a designer looking to work for a web design company would you want to work there? Frankly, I'd not be too keen on working for any company which mixes business and politics so readily, whatever the political leaning. I'm guessing that attracting good designers to Taunton when there are so many great agencies in Bristol is already hard work, without giving them another reason to think twice.

Ill advised at best, IMO

 

[CKG]

with every serviceman up in arms throughout the country

I doubt the majority if any will care. I know I don't.

He's just a gob ****e that has been caught out on a national scale - his 5 minutes of fame have arrived.

In a few weeks time no one will remember the name.

 

[revans]

Maybe his customers can get a little 'designed by paedos' graphic for their sites.

 

well I think he was a bit off his rocker for mentioning child molesters,but understand where he is coming from although he is a bit off target in whom he holds responsible.

Soldiers do what they are told,whether they agree with it or not.

Those that have not been involved in killing a few johnny foreigner's probably are not in full comand of the facts or the effects it has on the poor buggers who have.

No coincidence that more Falkland soldiers commited suicide than were killed in battle.

Earl

 

[Page1SEOWriter]

Maybe his customers can get a little 'designed by paedos' graphic for their sites.

That would be funny revans if paedophiles were not like alchoholics, if you get my drift...

 

[Matt1959]

guess who cold called me today!!! I recognised the name of the business straight away so had to say something, the salesguy on the phone said he;d called 80 people so far today and I was the first to mention the link. He said the company had undergone huge upheaval and they'd just bought it, I asked them did it change hands this week then and he said yes

 

[Page1SEOWriter]

guess who cold called me today!!! I recognised the name of the business straight away so had to say something, the salesguy on the phone said he;d called 80 people so far today and I was the first to mention the link. He said the company had undergone huge upheaval and they'd just bought it, I asked them did it change hands this week then and he said yes

Course they did LOL - Sounds like a sales speal to me. I take it you are talking about webeurope Matt?

 

[Matt1959]

yep sorry, it was Webeurope bless em

 

[Page1SEOWriter]

yep sorry, it was Webeurope bless em

So they are phone Spammers as well to boot then! LOL

 

[An Oasis]

And then leaves a traceable fingerprint...very dumb http://www.easycms.co.uk/contact.php

Bet he does not offer SEO...oppppppps.

 

[adventurelife]

Free country so the guy can say what he wants no matter how much most of us disagree with him. He probably misses the point that he gets to say what he wants because others are willing to put their neck on the line. However, he is obviously not the sharpest tool in the box consider where he has his offices with view like he has. He is going to wish he had not sent that email that is for sure.

I suspect it is also against the law to dismiss applications from ex service people based on the fact that they are ex service.

His new business pipeline is going to look pretty dry in the coming weeks, months.

 

[Page1SEOWriter]

Well they do say there is no such thing as bad publicity. Mr Winn's Company will be testing that theory out I guess LOL

 

[Darkforces]

In a business sense, he has committed suicide. What fool would make statements like that and link it to their business??

I disagree with his views - soldiers are only doing their job, not a nice one, but they can hardly resign! It isn't the soldiers he should be raising issue with - its' the politicians that put them there! Soldiers after all, are just a weapon - if someone is shot, do you blame the bullet? No! You blame the one pulling the trigger....in the case of war, that is the politician!

But I guess it is a free country, so he can spout all the views he likes - in his case, I cannot see it making him any friends, and I thing he is digging a very large hole.....and from what i hear, he has many soldiers waiting to back fill it!

I wouldn't fancy being in his shoes right now!

What a complete crock of ****e. The soldiers know exactly what they are getting themselves into when they join up to become a soldier. I dont see any politicians forcing anyone to join the army in the UK do you?

 

[Chunky Beagle]

I would stay well away from this man. Seems like a fruit cake to me.

 

[Darkforces]

I would stay well away from this man. Seems like a fruit cake to me.

Whys that then for having an opinion?

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Whys that then for having an opinion?

That may have been aimed at Mr Winn.................

 

[craiga1971]

Well they do say there is no such thing as bad publicity. Mr Winn's Company will be testing that theory out I guess LOL

There are many occasions when publicity is bad.. sometimes very bad.

I am sure the family of the late Dr Kelly didn't welcome the publicity his death brought to his family.

Craig

 

[felix299]

I'll lay my cards on the table here before I make my post. I am an ex soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. A very close friend of mine also has one of the Forces Recruitment Services franchises.

There is a lot of bluster and smoke and mirrors with this current situation. Firstly FRS were not the ones who contacted the press about this. They are also not involved in the "hire a hero" campaign. They obviously support it but they are not running it.

Karl Winn, in my opinion has acted unbelievably stupidly. He was contacted by FRS and asked if he would consider advertising any vacancies he had through the agency. A simple no would have sufficed. Mr Winn to me comes across as a very angry and bitter individual. The press releases on his website are full of poison and hatred of Britain. His political leanings are obvious when he uses phrases such as "the north of Ireland". He is as biased on this as I am.

Back to business though. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to alienate a large percentage of your customer base. There are internet forums who are actively contacting companies who use webeurope and informing them that they will boycott said company while they are customers of Karl Winn.

Word of mouth is spreading about Mr Winn and his outspoken view. He is clearly absolutely entitled to air those views, but the general public are equally entitled to exercise their right to chose which companies they do business with.

 

[Page1SEOWriter]

I'll lay my cards on the table here before I make my post. I am an ex soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. A very close friend of mine also has one of the Forces Recruitment Services franchises.

There is a lot of bluster and smoke and mirrors with this current situation. Firstly FRS were not the ones who contacted the press about this. They are also not involved in the "hire a hero" campaign. They obviously support it but they are not running it.

Karl Winn, in my opinion has acted unbelievably stupidly. He was contacted by FRS and asked if he would consider advertising any vacancies he had through the agency. A simple no would have sufficed. Mr Winn to me comes across as a very angry and bitter individual. The press releases on his website are full of poison and hatred of Britain. His political leanings are obvious when he uses phrases such as "the north of Ireland". He is as biased on this as I am.

Back to business though. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to alienate a large percentage of your customer base. There are internet forums who are actively contacting companies who use webeurope and informing them that they will boycott said company while they are customers of Karl Winn.

Word of mouth is spreading about Mr Winn and his outspoken view. He is clearly absolutely entitled to air those views, but the general public are equally entitled to exercise their right to chose which companies they do business with.

I am not alone in contacting Mr Winn and WebEurope.co.uk customers then LOL

Good to hear I was not the only one disgusted with his attitude enough to take such action.

British forces fight against the like of the Taliban (World's biggest heroin traffickers if I am not mistaken) and as you say fellix299 some of the things on Mr Winn's website are very political and should not in any way be involved with a "Web Design" company and if he wants to fight for his causes he perhaps should consider seperate website(s) as politics should not have anything to do with such things.

 

[An Oasis]

I am sure the family of the late Dr Kelly didn't welcome the publicity his death brought to his family.

Yet to hear the almighty (saviour of the world and everything green (as long as it comes out of his nose)) Gordon grovel his slimy toad like self down that path, although he seems to have grovelled at a number of national embarrassments recently.

Dr Kelly's family can rest assured that they are free of the above pseudo blessings and society thinks that Dr Kelly death whilst painful and unnecessary highlights the fact that the present bunch of ****e stirrers are little more than traitorous scum, which is of little comfort to Dr Kelly's family.

 

I think Karl was somewhat stupid to mention child molesters.in fact I would say that he probably did not on the grounds that anyone who is slightly in touch with reality would not dream of doing so.?

Funny how the FRS got on to the Sun so quickly most would have though the guy off his rocker and put it down to booze.

It seems his main objection is with people killing other people.

What a stupid attitude.What will people think of next.?

Earl

 

[Dawg]

I think Karl was somewhat stupid to mention child molesters.in fact I would say that he probably did not on the grounds that anyone who is slightly in touch with reality would not dream of doing so.?

It seems his main objection is with people killing other people.

What a stupid attitude.What will people think of next.?

Earl

I'd actually be willing to bet that he didn't mention child molesters, and that was 'embellishment' by the tabloids.

The mistake was to stake his business on a view that is like a red rag to a red top; his mistake was to be crassly indifferent to the fate of his employees, his family and his customers by assuming holding unpopular views would have no repercussions.

His objection is probably not to killing people. I would place a second bet that he would not condemn the firing of missiles into Israel, the sectarian murders in Ireland or the judicial practices of the Iranian government.

 

I'd actually be willing to bet that he didn't mention child molesters, and that was 'embellishment' by the tabloids.

The mistake was to stake his business on a view that is like a red rag to a red top; his mistake was to be crassly indifferent to the fate of his employees, his family and his customers by assuming holding unpopular views would have no repercussions.

His objection is probably not to killing people. I would place a second bet that he would not condemn the firing of missiles into Israel, the sectarian murders in Ireland or the judicial practices of the Iranian government.

Be interesting to see one of these emails.

"In a statement, his firm said that emails were exchanged between Mr Winn and Graham Brown, the managing director of Forces Recruitment Services Ltd, on March 5 and 9 as part of the Hire-a-Hero campaign."

I suspect Karl is a pacifist hence he possibly thinks that the score in Irag and other politiacl playgrounds is a touch onesided as at present it stand around 1 million Iraq's to 6,000 coalition.

No blame on the soldiers but plenty on the psychopaths we chose to run the asylum.

Why do we do that.?:|

We can't all be Millwall supporters.

Earl

 

[felix299]

I'd actually be willing to bet that he didn't mention child molesters, and that was 'embellishment' by the tabloids.

The mistake was to stake his business on a view that is like a red rag to a red top; his mistake was to be crassly indifferent to the fate of his employees, his family and his customers by assuming holding unpopular views would have no repercussions.

His objection is probably not to killing people. I would place a second bet that he would not condemn the firing of missiles into Israel, the sectarian murders in Ireland or the judicial practices of the Iranian government.

You would lose your bet. He not only mentioned child molesters but he is also quoted as trying to justify his comments.



As mentioned before hire a hero is not a FRS campaign. I'll speak to my friend and see if I can get a hold of the emails. I have seen some of them and the papers have embellished nothing.

I can't post links yet, but if you type "hire a hero Uk" into google you'll find more info on it. Karl Winn was simply asked to consider candidates from Forces Recruitment Services which include ex forces. His response wasn't a private conversation, it was a business discussion between 2 businessmen. He could have just declined, but he felt it was appropriate to make his deeply offensive comments

 

[Dawg]

I stand corrected. Thanks.

(one phrase in The Guardian report throws light on where Winn is coming from:"..former social worker..")

 

[Giles]

I stand corrected. Thanks.

(one phrase in The Guardian report throws light on where Winn is coming from:"..former social worker..")

In case you are inferring that Karl Winn is some kind of Guardian-reading lefty/liberal, you should know that he is the webmaster of an oswaldmosley.com site and hosts the neo-nazi books website for Steven Books.
On the oswaldmosley.com site he uses the moniker of 'Peter McCarron'.
Both of Karl Winn's parents were long-standing Mosley supporters, especially his father, Arthur Winn.
Karl Winn is particularly attracted to Mosley's policy of 'Ireland's Right to Unite' but takes it further and has adopted an extreme form of Irish republicanism as a result.
That is the root of his anti-British fanaticism.