Singing from a different hymn sheet

4:28pm Friday 21st January 2011 in Chris Hopper blog Photograph of the Author By Chris Hopper, Reporter

As the elected face and voice of town halls, council leaders are not renowned for making particularly interesting comments.

But more often than not they are consistent in their views - at least until this week.

Dispatched to the PLACE committee meeting of East Lancashire's council leaders in Bacup, I listened in as the top bods discussed housing regeneration cash from the government.

The area has been handed £4.2million for 2011/12 when under Housing Market Renewal, which was axed last year after seven years, East Lancashire averaged about £50million a year.

Here's what Pendle Council leader Mike Blomeley, a Conservative, had to say at the meeting: "We really have been left in something of a mess here. We all understand the government's financial position but that does not mean we should accept the immediate consequences of it."

But at the meeting I was also handed a press release, approved by council PR teams, which quoted Coun Blomeley thus: "This funding announcement recognises the strong partnership ethos we have across Pennine Lancashire, which means that when funding is available the government has total faith in us to spend it wisely."

There's a clear difference in tone there, not to mention in one quote welcoming the handout and in the other seeming to blast it as inadequate.

It seems clear which is the more candid view, which is why we used those quotes in the Lancashire Telegraph story.

Comments (2)

7:02pm Fri 21 Jan 11

wrinkles says...

poor lost souls - with the £50 million there came no responsibility - all stages of any ideas and/or planning were passed along to various government organisations to discuss whether it met the paragraph criteria they were responsible for and could apply their rubber stamp. Now that the costly beaurocracy has been removed they'll have to learn how to use their brains for a change.
poor lost souls - with the £50 million there came no responsibility - all stages of any ideas and/or planning were passed along to various government organisations to discuss whether it met the paragraph criteria they were responsible for and could apply their rubber stamp. Now that the costly beaurocracy has been removed they'll have to learn how to use their brains for a change. wrinkles

9:02am Sat 22 Jan 11

Kevin, Colne says...

Chris, hi!

You will know from my postings that I believe we now inhabit a world ruled by corporations, and that a large part of the mainstream media act as voices for corporate interests.

You will know also that I hold the view that we need the very best journalists we can get, and that's hard because the pay ain't right good - well not in the local and regional press, at any rate.

Stories that are derived entirely from corporate press releases should be labelled as such at the bottom: Source: such-and-such press release. In this way readers would be better informed, and it would reveal just how much 'news' comes from this source!

To be fair there has always been a difference between what politicians say and what they think, but what we have here is a story that could be re-drafted for insertion into George Orwell's book '1984', where, I have to say, it would sit very comfortably.

Of course the story would not be there for long. Winston - the main character in '1984' - would be detailed to change it so that all the record of all statements made in public matched those in the press release.

Finally, it's a great pity that Orwell's '1984' and 'Animal Farm' and Galbraith's 'A short history of financial euphoria' are not on the National Curriculum. They never will be you see, because ...

Sorry to have gone off on one, but your story touched a nerve.

Kindest regards

Kevin
Chris, hi! You will know from my postings that I believe we now inhabit a world ruled by corporations, and that a large part of the mainstream media act as voices for corporate interests. You will know also that I hold the view that we need the very best journalists we can get, and that's hard because the pay ain't right good - well not in the local and regional press, at any rate. Stories that are derived entirely from corporate press releases should be labelled as such at the bottom: Source: such-and-such press release. In this way readers would be better informed, and it would reveal just how much 'news' comes from this source! To be fair there has always been a difference between what politicians say and what they think, but what we have here is a story that could be re-drafted for insertion into George Orwell's book '1984', where, I have to say, it would sit very comfortably. Of course the story would not be there for long. Winston - the main character in '1984' - would be detailed to change it so that all the record of all statements made in public matched those in the press release. Finally, it's a great pity that Orwell's '1984' and 'Animal Farm' and Galbraith's 'A short history of financial euphoria' are not on the National Curriculum. They never will be you see, because ... Sorry to have gone off on one, but your story touched a nerve. Kindest regards Kevin Kevin, Colne

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