For some reason, the TPA seems to end up responding to an abnormally large number of stories about waste or other costly ideas dreamed up by Essex County Council - and today is no exception. I don't know if they're better (or should I say worse?) at thinking up ways to waste money, or simply better at publicising their whizzo wheezes, but today's news is a corker.
Lord Hanningfield, the Leader of ECC, has announced that the Council will be making a job offer to the runner-up on the Apprentice. That's right, he thinks it would be a great idea to recruit them irrespective of who they turn out to be. What's more, "the exact job description remain[s] flexible" - i.e. Lord H is even going to make up a job just for them.
This is, according to their press release, about making clear that
Essex County Council is as ambitious as any private company
Unfortunately, ECC seems to have a rather odd understanding of exactly what it is that private companies do. Unlike councils, they don't pride themselves on how much money they spend, rather on how much money they make - and that certainly doesn't involve just buying up reality TV stars irrespective of who they are, what they do or whether the organisation has a use for them.
The taxpayers of Essex don't care whether minor celebrities are working for them - they would much rather have the roads mended properly and cost effectively by someone they've never heard of than offer the job to someone off the telly regardless of their abilities. Even if you can do a pretty good impression of a reverse Pterodactyl, it still shouldn't be the main criterion for employment at Essex County Council.