I agree with much of what you say Mick, but given the sheer amount of redundancies made at the Civic Centre over the last three years I'm not sure that "the bureaucracy is awash with pointless tiers of middle management" anymore. That I think is now largely a myth peddled by central government. Not sure about very senior management though. The people interviewed on the news put the case very well, but as we saw the majority of councils are doing exactly the same. At a time of youngsters facing so many problems with unemployment and gangs there is no doubt a viable youth service is necessary. However, as we can all see there are people trying to save libraries, day centres and a myriad other things and the fact is something's got to give. I too am appalled, not just for our youngsters but our schools, our Health Service and our society, and I don't believe that the government's slash and burn policies are right or needed. If they were to tackle the tax evasion by big companies and make the banks pay up they might have some credibility, but they seem to fight shy of bothering when these measures would go a long way to getting us out of the mess they in no small way created. |