A very good post

There is one thing that appears the same whether private or public sector ... the people at the top awarding themselves more money and destroying the people beneath them.

If there is one change that is needed (and I did suggest this to the government responses) is that councillors need more party support.

Some councillors come and go so don't know the ropes. They don't know how and where to check in order to ensure they're getting the right facts and figures from the managers.

Without this knowledge, the councillors can't keep a check on the managers that look after the services and the parties should be giving their councillors that ability, that knowledge, and providing services to the councillors as well ... services by which the councils financial report can be submitted to a financial expert for interpretation.

That was another suggestion I made ... standardise the format of the local government financial reports so that they are easier to read and interpret; so that the financial teams can't hide unpleasent information. Most financiers know that people with little time on their hands will start to read, then get tired and jump to the back hoping to find anything that they think is buried ... as a result te unplesent stuff gets put in the middle of the report.

Sort out the bad managers ... the people with their fingers on the financial trigger ... and you'll be a godo step forward to getting value for public money.