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A staggering combination of arrogance,
complacency and sheer indifference
Magnus Linklater
Editor: Scottish Edition, The Times
Filed 07Jan09
©Magnus Linklater
This article was originally published in The Times on 5th January 2010.
It is reproduced here with the kind permission of its author and of the newspaper.
For the last two weeks Scotland has been ravaged by the worst winter weather seen in 30 years. One might imagine, therefore, that local councils, whose role is to serve the public, would take immediate action to ensure that we are kept well-informed about the state of our roads and pavements — to say nothing of stocks of grit and the advice they offer to local residents, particularly the old and the infirm.
On the contrary, nothing, not even a climatic upset, is allowed to interfere with the inalienable right of councillors and officials to take their statutory break, which runs from Christmas Eve until January 5.
A Times survey yesterday showed that at least seven councils have no information to offer. “Call back tomorrow” was the jobsworth response to inquiries; others had nothing to add; advice was in short supply. Cosla, for instance, which represents the 32 councils, makes no reference at all on its website to the wintry conditions. East Lothian says more ice and snow is forecast, but offers no advice save for announcing that council offices are closed for a jaw-dropping 13-day “festive break.” Western Isles Council has no reference to weather at all.
There are shining exceptions. Highland Council has issued a long and detailed report. Aberdeenshire Council keeps its residents well-informed. Glasgow’s not bad. And of course, those council workers involved in gritting our main roads have worked long, back-breaking hours to keep them open.
But what emerges from the performance of council bureaucrats is a staggering combination of arrogance, complacency and sheer indifference to the very people they are there to represent — the long-suffering public.
When, over the next year, they face the job cuts and the lay-offs that will be the inevitable consequence of the recession they should not be surprised if the Scottish people who, after all, pay for the councillors and their officials with inflated council taxes, respond with the same shrug of the shoulders that they themselves have demonstrated this past fortnight.
©Magnus Linklater
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