THIS is the month in which the public may inspect last year's city accounts.

All the hype and conjecture can finish. In black and white we can see that the city had to borrow £6m more last year, bringing the net total to about £57m.

Net interest on loans and overdrafts was about £3m. Per household, that is total borrowing of about £1500, an extra £150 borrowed last year and net interest of about £70 - that's half a week's work at the minimum wage for nothing.

When we look at the revenue and expenditure, this has been close to the budget which the Labour Party left behind. This extra borrowing need was known when Mr Henig dropped out as council leader. One third of the town hall which Lord Ashton gave the city is now mortgaged to pay for pride and folly (and Hilton Dawson not seeing anything going wrong!).

Let's have no more letters from Messrs Barker and Bryning, telling us that everything was apple pie a year ago. Incidentally, £6m was the figure on the unusual election leaflet in Castle ward in 1999.

Michael Jackson

Hest Bank

Lancaster