Now I realise that times are hard and a museum may well be seen as luxury public funds can no longer afford by the powers that be at the top of our interminably woefully run council, but I think that a county town should have, and should be proud to maintain, a vibrant museum. In Northampton's case this is more than justified by its rich history in shoe making. This makes it a national reference point for all things cobbling related, from an archeological, educational and a forensic point of view. If the museum also has other collections, all the better as it adds to the cultural depth of the museum visitor's experience.
This albeit minor example is sadly symptomatic of the circus/gravy train/disaster (delete or add as appropriate) that is Northampton Borough Council. It seems to make no difference which political colour runs the show as we seem to get the same laughably woolly headed leadership ad infinitum.
I cannot speak for other councils, but I'm sure this is a countrywide nightmare. Our councils all seem to be "middle heavy" in that their administrative structure has the appearance of Michelin Man, with a select few at the very top, the sort of people who when they leave under a cloud manage to extract large payoffs for doing a poor job. These often self important "leaders" are then "supported" by hundreds if not thousands of middle management types whose working day appears to consist of sending each other emails and attending focus groups discussing which outside agency they will throw thousands of council tax payers money at to make the decisions they should be making themselves but seem incapable of. At the bottom of the pile are the shrinking numbers of low rank council employees who do the actual work. These poor unfortunates are constantly having to reapply for an ever dwindling number of redefined jobs, decided upon by the agencies referred to above, most of which could not run a business in the real world without going bust in record time. Mind you why would they want to start up real businesses when councils and government departments all over the UK cry out for their so-called services in order to deflect the blame for making the ludicrous decisions these people get paid OUR money to arrive at.
To close with another instance of bureaucratic fogginess - One of the few things of merit in Northampton's homogenised centre was its market square. Not so long ago when full this was a sight to behold. Over the years the number of stalls has shrunk (not necessarily all the council's fault admittedly), so the council came up with the idea of using the space left for events such as music festivals and screenings of world cup matches. Not a bad idea in itself, but it turns out the money this costs annually (around £300000) is almost exactly the same as the saving made by axing the town's balloon festival, which was second only to the Bristol balloon festival in size in Europe! Now I'm no Einstein, but why make a saving with one hand and then spend it with the other?
.....and I've not yet mentioned the fountain NBC put in that cost £250000 in total. Although the cost of the actual fountain was £98000, the rest has been spent on correcting numerous errors made in its construction. With majestic plumes of water rising to a heady height of, ooh six feet, this sure is a highly impressive aquatic display. Amongst other mistakes the contractors originally managed to build it on a slope, so not all the water was properly drained resulting in a nearby newsagent's cellar being flooded. For more see: http://tonyclarkeindependent.blogspot.com/2010/05/aint-no-fountain-high-enough.html
Laugh? I suppose you have to really!
Impressive, eh? One Tory wag on the council reckoned he "could lie on (his) back and p*ss higher than that". Heehee.
No comments:
Post a Comment