writing – thecumbriachronic.co.uk

CRUMBRIA: 08/06/2026

WOKEMORELAND & Farcical Clowncil is warning that it could be heading for the Town Hall version of going bust.

Buried in the paperwork for a committee meeting this week is the cheerful admission that spending is “unsustainable”, £40 million big ones need finding, and without change the Council is heading for the cliffs, aka, a Section 114 Notice.

Otherwise known as doing a “Birmingham” where Council Tax bills surged, er, about 21% over two years.

Had this all been unfolding under a Tory Government, certain leftward corners of the Council chamber would have long ago been gnashing their teeth in the local rags about “wicked austerity”.

Yet because the Council’s financial cracks are appearing under Keirnocchio’s Labour Government, no local Councillor appears to be in any great rush to make frantic bird-in-distress calls to the Evening Snail or The Wasteoftime Gazette.

The Snail, to its credit, was first with this news, but then missed the body parts hidden in the Council’s paperwork.

The report contained a dire warning about “Weak leadership grip” at the Council (heaven forbid!). There’s also “change fatigue” affecting Council staff, who we feel most sorry for.

The Council is run by a snaggle-toothed Lib Dem-dictatorship. This may be the proof, if ever it were needed, that they are better qualified to running Councils in affluent areas like Kendal and Penrith where they can give 20-minute lectures about climate change, rather than grappling with the harsh socio-economic realities of places like Barrow, or off-the-map backwaters like Alston.

Despite all this doom and gloom every cloud has a rainbow-coloured lining.

In the same big bundle of documents about this municipal horror show, the Council has unveiled this colourful badge for its meeting in Kendal on Wednesday.

Good to see it concentrating on the big picture.