Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Does Andrew Gilligan read HoL?!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8365463/Death-by-a-thousan...#

Did Gilligan read this http://www.harringayonline.com/forum/topics/844301:Topic:51799 having dug through the archives?

Wonder why Telegraph taking such an interest in Haringey and just looking at the numbers alone some of the decisions taken do seem strange. Plus we do not bench mark favourably V Hackney which is a surprise.

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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on March 7, 2011 at 10:41

If Gilligan did indeed plagiarise that work of youthful genius, Will, I trust he'll be forwarding half his Telegraph retainer to Mr Finnegan's Credit Union account.

"Are they, as Mr Pickles claims, axeing the front line when they could be trimming the fat?" asks Gilligan. Doesn't Mr Pickles live in a glasshouse? What does he expect the nice Ms Kober to do? Take her carving knife to Joe Goldberg's cheeks, upper and nether?

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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on March 7, 2011 at 12:36

I compared Haringey's spending (items over £500) to Kensington and Chelsea's. The taxis figure Gilligan quotes is correct but in K&C there was no such spending. Who needs an account with a minicab office when you have all those black cabs.

The main difference between Haringey and K&C seemed to be that we have a lot more unwanted children to look after or they cost a lot more.

Gilligan really is a bit if an arse. I wouldn't put him past a bit of plagiarism.

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Permalink Reply by Omotn on March 8, 2011 at 9:23

I suspect that Gilligan does have some valid, financially measurable and verifiable points but he dilutes his argument with cheap shots at eco friendly wigwams, so when he gets to the point "Yet the story doesn't end there" I'm left wondering "what story?"

He does say "Local government finance has been more or less deliberately designed – by Whitehall as much as town hall – to be hideously complicated, to frustrate real accountability and to allow everyone to blame everyone else" and this impenetrability seems to be the main point to emerge, both from his article and from the LBH response. It is very difficult to see through the morass of netting off, retrospective grossing up, selective omissions and arcane local authority jargon. Councillor Wilson's point about 2008 may or may not be true, but how do you tell. I have started about 3 times to look at the past actuals and the future projections as posted on the LBH website, but not yet managed to make a decent inroads towards what might be called understanding.

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Permalink Reply by Pressdesk at Haringey Council on March 7, 2011 at 16:17

Andrew Gilligan's comment piece in today’s Daily Telegraph contains several major inaccuracies. Haringey Council’s full response to this matter can be seen at the following link:

http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/news_and_events/setting_the_record...