This apparent cry from the heart from the CAB : “As a small part of Uttlesford’s Big Society we still needs to pay our phone bills, rent and heat offices etc!” is a warning to councils that think efficiencies mean cuts to the voluntary sector.

Richard Kemp at the Local Government Association reflects a growing mood of frustration with Eric Pickles and others in his team at Communities & Local Government (CLG). I am picking up strong feelings from many directions of disdain for a ministerial team driven by dogma and an urge to grab headlines, whether it’s about Christmas bin collections or the “bonfire of quangos”, which now seems to be stoked up with £50 notes rather than bureaucratic waste paper!! Hyperactive government ministers wasting taxpayers’ money in a dogmatic drive to be different for the sake of change will not win votes.