Alice's Adventures in Fiascoland
Once upon a time not so long ago, Wonderland held its local
elections. The creatures of Wonderland had no time for politics
and simply voted for their favourite letter of the alphabet. Not
surprisingly, the As got the most votes, closely followed by the Bs,
with the Cs mopping up the remainder.
Now anyone knows that if you keep only three chickens there is a
danger that one will be ganged up on by the other two. So when the
Bs and Cs realised that their combined vote was bigger than the As'
they formed an alliance to govern Wonderland. Protest as they might,
there was nothing the As could do about it, and they were eventually
excluded altogether from the Executive. The portfolios were shared
out among the Bs and Cs, with Business and Economic Development going
to one of the Cs, the Mock Turtle. This was very pleasing for him
since the initials B&ED are such important letters of the alphabet,
bringing opportunities undreamt of
Some time later, a developer applied to regenerate a derelict site
near Wonderland's Waterfront. The centre piece would be a marvellous
Fiasco Extra superstore with a wonderful atrium and ample car parking,
with lovely hotels, new shops and smart flats, some of which would
even be affordable.
As it happened, Alice fell through a rabbit hole and landed right
in the middle of the Wonderland Planning and Development Committee
meeting where the proposal was being considered. The Wonderland
Society's Planning Officer was urging the Committee to listen to the
arguments and vote accordingly, rather than alphabetically, to which
the Queen of Hearts blustered, "Why, the very idea! This Committee
has a distinguished record of not voting along alphabetical lines! Off
with his head!"
And so the meeting progressed. Everyone agreed that the site needed
regenerating, and the Queen of Hearts launched a spirited support for
the proposal saying it showed that Wonderland was open for business
at a time when new jobs and investment were very valuable. But the
As were concerned that Wonderland's other shops would be driven
out of business, leaving the creatures of Wonderland unable to buy
their daily essentials without using their cars. So there would
be much more traffic along the Waterfront, which was already too
often gridlocked and not at all pedestrian-friendly. All in all,
the proposal went against all the good consultation work that had
gone into Wonderland's Local Development Framework (the LDF, whose
champion had been the Mock Turtle) which wanted less traffic and a
more pleasant environment for all the creatures.
This unsettled the White Rabbit who was chairing the meeting, but then
the Case Officer pointed out that the LDF hadn't yet been adopted
and the increase in congestion didn't sound very serious to him,
and it wasn't the Committee's job to protect the other retailers, so
none of those objections applied. The other Bs and Cs all agreed with
the Queen of Hearts, which cheered the White Rabbit who then called
for a vote. In fact, he was so excited that he cast his own casting
vote prematurely, before the Mock Turtle had satisfied himself about
the free car parking arrangements. "Free car parking?" exclaimed
the Highways Officer. "No one told us about free car parking! That
will need to be examined!" So the casting vote actually fell to the
Mock Turtle who was in two minds about which way to vote. "Once,"
he would muse wistfully, "I was a real Turtle." So the Queen asked
the developers if the car parking could be managed, though no one
heard quite what, if anything, was actually agreed. But the Mock
Turtle proceeded to vote in favour.
"Objection!" protested the As. "Off with their heads!" countered the
Queen, adding ironically, "That Rabbit is chairing the meeting, not
you!" The proposal was carried, with the votes falling alphabetically.
Alice couldn't believe her eyes and ears, so she wrote to the Bs and
Cs and asked them if they had taken any notice of the As' objections,
or if they simply thought the pros outweighed the cons. (She could only
guess at how the Queen of Hearts would respond!) But the Committee's
legal advisor must have advised against that, and instead sent Alice
a reply that all representations had been taken into account and that
due process had been followed.
But Alice wasn't reassured. "No jury would convict by such a slender
margin, not even for stealing a few tarts, let alone a serious matter
such as this. What kind of ' due process' gives approval without
addressing any of the problems, and with no explanation, on a single
casting vote from a portfolio holder having to oppose his own LDF,
which had already been endorsed by the Wonderland Council?"
"Indeed you might wonder," said a Cheshire Cat, who had evidently
appeared from nowhere. "After all, this is Wonderland. We're all mad
here!" And he promptly disappeared again leaving just a sickly grin
hanging in the air.
"Thank goodness this couldn't happen in the real world," thought
Alice.
MIKE BRAIN
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Cover, issue 180
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