MONEY FOR OLD ROBES?

CRUMBRIA: 19/02/2026

THERE’S been another missed opportunity for public service journalism on the News & Shrug.

The sinking Carlisle tabloid has just done a gratuitous PR piece about the city’s Labour mayor getting a new set of robes.

The, er, fashion spread – complete with photographs of Mayor, Cllr Jeanette Whalen, donning the new municipal clobber – skilfully avoided any mention of what it cost local taxpayers.

Paid for with public money, the new robes replace the 45-year-old historic civic regalia, widely regarded as past its best.

But the cost caused a stink last August. Independent Carlisle councillor Robert Betton warned that new robes could set the public purse back by a not inconsiderable £10,000, possibly as much as £12,500.

They could have cleaned the old ones for just £3,000, Cllr Betton revealed at the time, dismissing the exercise as squandering taxpayers’ money in a cost-of-living crisis.

Less well known is that at the meeting which followed his concerns being publicised, there was much huffing and puffing by officialdom.

How had these figures found their way into the public domain via the media, when they should have been kept private!

Apparently, public money is only public once it’s safely spent!

In any event, the Charter Trustees – eight Labour councillors, two Lib Dems and a Green- were subsequently approached with a “much lower quote” from a “top local designer”, helping save face.

Carlisle has now ended up with the original robes being lovingly refurbished, plus a new set of robes to boot. (Allegedly “much cheaper” than before.)

Investigative hacks on the News & Shrug bravely decided not to refer to last summer’s row in the most recent piece (see link below).

Readers, too, were spared the distress of learning that the job came in at circa £8,945.