I'm surprised the BBC television news channel found time to cover any international affairs yesterday, as it seemed to have been transformed into a sports station, or rather a commercial football channel. So let me remind trust board members than many of us wish that FIFA, along with professional football in general, would disappear permanently up their large rear orifice. Having got this off my chest, I do feel that the FIFA president's question during yesterday's "very important" press conference -"not a bazaar" as he informed the media - is one which needs tackling.
So let me focus on Britain's local democratic deficit, and ask why so many major planning inquiries are held in football stadia. In the good old days, these events typically took place in city and town halls, although I attended one in the august surrounds of the Old Royal Military Academy at Woolwich (later redeveloped). The apparent closeness of the Planning Inspectorate and local authorities to commercial football, itself the source of some controversial development applications, is precisely the kind of professional relationship which raises concerns amongst those who suspect officials, if not of actual corruption, then of collusion with business interests.
The fact that most large councils have now entered the social media arena also raises important issues of accountability and, inevitably, funding, as highlighted in the case of South Tyneside Council and a Tweeter called Mr Monkey over the weekend. This English local authority has pursued Mr Monkey through the Californian legal system and gained access to his Twitter account, along with that of an independent councillor, all for less than US$100k (or was that £s Sterling ?) according to a council spokesman. That people should feel the need to resort to anonymous blogging to make claims against council officials indicates that if English local democracy, to quote FIFA president,is "not in crisis...we are in some difficulties".
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