Reform giving a masterclass on how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
I don't know what they're doing. Charity knows better than anyone that the project is unviable and a financial suicide mission. He's head of audit!
Did I hallucinate the bit about Grant Thornton red rating the governance and financial structure the other day...??
I think that complete idiot Tice waded in again and screwed it all up. Now not only have Reform been humiliated in their flagship council, they're also complicit.
Well for anyone who watched the excellent ‘Thick of It’ they’ll know that Charity will have been ‘Tuckered’. Something that’s a political hot potato, such as the reopening of a money pit airport cos the masses apparently want it, is always going to win out over sound reasoning and people doing the right thing. I can guarantee that the airport reopening scheme will not be universally popular amongst the local Labour Party, but they are forced to stand united to maintain political parity.
No you did not hallucinate. Yes Grant Thornton have yet again flagged it as Red with critical risks attached. CDC are putting all the public money on a lame horse.
It’s worth me pointing out since I haven’t in a while that if this airport can be made to be truly the success it purports to be then I would support it. I’m sick of travelling all over the place for work, and now more than ever I truly value being ‘home’. But I really do not believe this is going to work, my confidence in it has not been helped by the LinkedIn post today by the ‘Head of Health and Safety and fire’ who, in any serious organisation, would never be privy to any information pertaining to matters commercial, yet happily telling people that it’s going to be bigger than DSA mk.1. We’re also led to believe that even more ‘talented’ applicants withdrew from the race for jobs owing to this uncertainty.
@Eusebius you may appreciate this. I asked AI for an analogy of councillors arguing over the small print instead of the big (white) elephant in the room. Instead it wrote a short story!
This whole saga feels like a dark comedy about a town that decided to build a
luxury bridge over a river that had already changed course.
The Bridge to Nowhere (Eventually)
Once there was a town called Doncastle that sat on the banks of the Great River. For years, the river brought trade and travelers, and the town grew rich. But one day, the river began to dry up. A massive, deep-water canal was built just twenty miles south, and all the big merchants moved their ships there. They built giant docks, hired all the best sailors, and signed 50-year contracts.
The Great River at Doncastle became a trickling stream. The private owner of the old town bridge looked at the empty banks and said, "This isn't a river anymore; it’s a muddy path. I’m closing the bridge."
The townspeople were heartbroken. But the Town Council was furious. They didn't want to admit the water was gone. They decided the town's pride was at stake. "We will reopen the bridge ourselves!" they declared. "But better! It won't just be for travelers; it will be a Global Hub for Heavy Carts!"
To do this, they hired a
Bridge Safety Warden. He didn't have a bridge yet, and there were no carts coming, but the Council paid his salary out of the town's emergency gold reserves. He spent his days on the riverbank, posting flyers to the townspeople:
"We are building something stronger! Something sustainable! I’ve been talking to cart-drivers, and they are very encouraged by our mud!"
Then came the day of the Great Vote. The Council had to decide whether to borrow
57,000 gold coins to finish the bridge.
A small group of skeptics stood up. "The canal down south has already taken all the carts," they said. "The merchants have already invested their millions there. There is only a finite amount of stuff to move, and they aren’t coming back to our muddy stream."
But then, the Town Accountant dropped a bombshell. "Listen," he whispered to the Council. "We’ve already spent 48,000 gold coins on the Safety Warden’s uniform, some fancy German blueprints, and a deposit on some stones. If you vote 'No' today, that 48,000 is gone forever and we have nothing. If you vote 'Yes,' we only spend 9,000 more... and maybe, just maybe, a cart will show up."
The Council panicked. They didn't want to be the ones who "lost" 48,000 gold coins. So, they spent hours arguing over the
"Safeguards."
"We'll only pay the 9,000 coins if the bridge owner promises to let us paint it blue!" one shouted. "We want a 'Transparency Clause' so we can look at the bridge every Tuesday!" another yelled.
They voted
"Yes."
The Safety Warden ran to his town-crier post.
"Victory!" he shouted.
"Support the drive! Rally around the mud! This will happen! And when it does, it will be something truly special!"
Meanwhile, twenty miles south, the giant canal was busier than ever. The merchants there didn't even look up. They had the water, they had the ships, and they had the gold.
Back in Doncastle, the townspeople looked at their 57,000-coin debt and their new, beautiful bridge... standing over a dry patch of dirt where a river used to be. The Council felt very proud of their "Safeguards," but they still didn't have any water.
