Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

Any other business | 12 February 2011

Which would you rather save – your local library or a County Hall paper-pusher?

issue 12 February 2011

Which would you rather save – your local library or a County Hall paper-pusher?

What a curious double life I lead. Half the week I’m your disembodied commentator from the world of high finance — my anonymity protected, as I truffle for City gossip, by a portrait drawing that (I’m told) doesn’t look like me at all. For the other half, I’m one of the north of England’s most hyperactive citizens, blundering like Flashman from one battlefield of the cuts debate to the next.

Last week, for example, I was discussing library closures on Monday, police manpower reductions on Tuesday, the crunch in higher education on Wednesday, and doomsday scenarios for the arts on Thursday and Friday. The real impact of all this on community life is becoming daily more apparent, but what is most interesting to observe is how the level of public acceptance varies with the degree of honesty displayed.

The Arts Council, for example, seems to have kept its client base well informed and to have created a decently transparent process that will lead, next month, to the announcement of which arts companies have made it into the funded ‘national portfolio’, and which will be left to fend for themselves.

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