Today we see Birmingham City Council effectively declaring bankruptcy with at least three other English Councils due to follow suit, Woking, Croydon and Thurrock. One of the reasons is ‘bothched investment projects’.

In July we saw the government of Victoria [Australia] cancel the 2026 Commonwealth Games, they rightly said to spend £7bn on such a vanity project when the world is suffering a cost of living crisis was just plain wrong! I agree.

These big projects do bring certain benefits as the eyes of the world descend upon them for a short period, but do the long-term benefits justify the expense?

So how much money was spent and lost when Birmingham hosted last year’s Commonwealth Games?

When Glasgow balances their books after the prestigious Cyclying event what will they show? Praise and adoration is one thing and yes it was quite spectacular but what was the personal cost to businesses?

Surely it is time to rethink big events in one place?

Do we invest in vanity or people, because one doesn’t always help the other?

There seems to be a disconnect between the people who need the most and those who run things at the top whose aim is to promote their town or city. If they could marry the two up, fine, but they can’t because Britain is broke….and we all know why!

And on the subject of investments, some Councils haven’t learned the lesson from the Iceland crash.

I personally think investing in people is the best investment any country or council could ever make. If ‘People make Glasgow’ then that’s where the money should go and the people should have more say. Hence the reason I believe in Direct Democracy.

Thanks to Salvo we will be hearing a lot more about Direct Democracy over the next few weeks. So spread the word, there is another way for us to move forward.