LETTERSFrom Nigel Golding, Ryde:
THE Victorian decision to divorce Hampshire and form the IW County Council and its successor IW Council has proved to be a disaster.
We have had an unbroken succession of inadequate administrations led by a procession of uninspiring nobodies.
They, in turn, appoint, at six-figure salaries, a constant churn of senior managers, who wouldn’t last a day running a candyfloss stall on any Island seafront. These strategic thinkers then appoint middle managers in their own image and so on down the food chain.
In contrast, the council staff encountered on a day-to-day basis are, for the most part, dedicated, professional and helpful.
It is a scenario often repeated in public bodies, succinctly summed up in respect of the soldiers and their commanders in the First World War as "lions led by donkeys".
We should rejoin Hampshire. There would be a financial gain in taking out a parasitic layer of government and we would benefit from being administered by a pool of talent drawn from the mainstream of local government.
Even if this pool turned out to be shallower than hoped, at least we would end up paying for fewer donkeys.