CRITICAL COUNCIL NEWS VANISHES

By I. Didit

STRANGE editorial decisions about what is and ISN’T news continue to be made on the Times & (Red) Star newspaper, the once noted Workington organ.

If this week’s 64-page edition of West Cumbria’s Pravda is to be believed, all is well on the Labour dictatorship in charge of Crumberland Council.

This is despite the T&S’ own sister paper, the News & Scar, Carlisle, publishing a 900-word shocky-horror epic a week ago about “significant weaknesses” in the Council’s books found by outside auditors.

(The Council has had the accountancy version of an ass-kicking with Grant Thornton having concerns about the authority’s financial sustainability and financial governance, among others.)

Somehow, content controllers populating the columns of this week’s Times & (Red) Star on Thursday managed to MISS sharing this important Scroogequest exclusive with their in-the-dark West Cumbrian readers.

What are the odds!

The Carlisle sister paper first published the story on Feb 15th – a week ago today.

It was available to the Workington paper as part of the Local Democracy Reporting story-sharing scheme.

Surely any reasonable overseer of the T&S would have run this article in the next available edition of its paper, eg Feb 20th?

Yet in another outbreak of the Workington Bermuda Story Triangle – the highly critical Council expose duly “disappeared”.

We’re sure it’s little more than a perfectly innocent content oversight on the Times & (Red) Starmer.

However, this week’s “newspaper” did manage to devote space to tell readers and voters in West Cumbria alternative facts about the Council – mostly Press Releases sent out by Spinners on the, er, Council.

Here’s the unmissable list…

Cumberland Council has been awarded more than £1.3 million to improve walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure.

A partnership, led by Cumberland Council’s Local Focus Hub to tackle underage drinking in Workington has won an award.

Cumberland Council’s public spaces team has won a national environmental award

While it may win awards for successful Press Releases planted in the paper, accountancy geniuses in charge of Crumberland Council will not be winning any Oscars for settling old accounts.

(Auditors are expected to crawl further up the crevice of the Council later this year – another fact which has so far eluded our local Churnos).

And here’s the list of other publications and news outlets that did somehow manage to find space to feature the Council’s financial foul-ups.

Auditors Slam Council Books – The Cumbria Chronic, 10th Feb

External Auditors find “considerable challenges” at Cumberland Council – the News & Scar, 15th Feb

Council’s finances had “significant weaknesses” – BBC Radio Cumbria, 16th Feb

Significant weaknesses at Cumberland Council – http://www.LocalGov.uk, 17th Feb

Significant weaknesses at Cumberland and Dorset – The Municipal Journal, 17th Feb

Cumberland Council’s finance problems will be addressed – BBC Radio Cumbria, 18th Feb

Given that the Times & (Red) Star runs an eight-page puzzle section every week, the biggest puzzle of all is how it MISSED this story.

As with all newspaper quizzes, perhaps the answer will come in next week’s edition?

In the interests of open democracy and accountable local Government, please share the hell out of this if you would – thanking yaw!