People were asked for their views on the idea of closing both schools and building a new one on the Myers Grove site. That suggested their opinions would be taken into consideration when a final scheme was drafted. In effect, council officers appear to have painted themselves into a corner. There was no real option, according to them. And now they say that rejection of their scheme is putting at risk the future £250 million investment in schools throughout the city.

That is a very blunt way of telling people and politicians alike: do what we say or stand the consequences.

The idea of democracy is for politicians to respond to the wishes of people. They then formulate a policy which officers implement. In this case, the boot seems to be on the wrong foot with offices throwing their hands in the air and saying they have no options, in effect they have no ideas.

That would seem to be a very poor response. And in no way compensates for the shambles created in the first place when the public were fooled into thinking they had a say in the future shape of those schools.

The fact is that people took that opportunity at face value and it is the officers who must now live with those consequences. They have to return to Whitehall, where they had apparently made their approaches before they even began to engage the public in the debate, and say they got it wrong and that a rethink is necessary.

That is the way democracy works - and it is the only way faith in local government can begin to be restored.

Strip or strop?

WHAT'S the point of being Queen if you can't throw a strop when some pushy foreigner oversteps the mark? Acclaimed American photographer Annie Leibovitz got on the wrong side of Her Majesty when she suggested the crown she was wearing for a photoshoot was a little too dressy. But Ms Leibovitz, of course, is used to snapping the likes of Beckham...and he'd take anything off for the sake of a little more publicity!