One of the most frequently-asked questions in recent days has been, 'Where are the bankers?' Why has not a single leader of one of the major, now part-nationalised banks not appeared on radio or television to give an account of themselves? The banking sector's lack of transparency in good times, and in bad, could not be in sharper contrast to local government's. The transparency, openness and fundamental integrity of individual councils, and the sector as a whole, is at the heart of its values. A time when the absence of trust has led to the collapse of the banking system and put the global economy on the brink of recession is a good moment to be able to point to such values as among those which differentiate local government's contribution to society. At the eye of a storm is precisely the moment when we should rely most on the values that define us as a sector. So, the first preoccupation of councils exposed to the Icelandic bank collapse has been concern to protect public services and the council taxpayer.
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