Could Barnet Council Organise a conference in a brewery?

One of the things I keep a close eye on are the press releases from Barnet Council. With the huge amount of cash they have lost in recent weeks in Icelandic banks, I'd have thought that there would have been regular updates on the Barnet council website press release page. The press release page would seem a pretty logical place to put this info.

Well something miraculous has happened. The council's press office has gone into overdrive. On Friday, they posted 3 releases and on Thursday 7 releases. That is 10 in two days! Considering they only posted 13 press releases for the whole month of September, that is pretty good going. The old press department is clearly working it's socks off to get the info to us. Now here is a summary of this flurry of exciting news.

17/10/2008 - A blue day for disabled badge fraudsters
17/10/2008 - State of the art library opens its doors
17/10/2008 - International athlete rewards Barnet sporting heroes
16/10/2008 - Sensory garden targeted by vandals
16/10/2008 - New baby changing units installed
16/10/2008 - Finchley nursery spreads the word across Europe
16/10/2008 - Barnet recruits 100th pupil for healthy living programme
16/10/2008 - Barnet's Housing Conference 2008
16/10/2008 - Mayor's 30th walk for North London Hospice
16/10/2008 - Eco home unveiled to public

Hold on a second you may say, no press release about the Icelandic Bank situation. Surely this is the big story in Barnet. Surely this is the story that everyone wants to know about. Surely this is the story which anyone in the press will be looking at the website for. Now maybe I just missed it, but I couldn't see any press release at all about it.

Why such a flurry? Ten releases in two days is far more than I've ever noticed. It is certainly more than any two days on the rest of the press release history (clikc on the above link and check for yourself). We can only wonder why the press department have suddenly become so productive. Is it possible that someone, somewhere in the higher echelons of the council said "Get some news into the papers which will distract people from the Icelandic Bank fiasco". "Get some feel good stories out there. Make us look like we care".

One story which made me laugh was the one concerning the "2008 Barnet Housing conference". This press release was posted on the 16th of October. The conference was on the 17th. This in effect means that there was no point posting it. Surely this was far too late for anyone with an interest in the conference actually to attend. I would love to have gone. Having written several blogs about housing in Barnet, I surely have an interest. I'd also love to have seen all of the expensive conference facilities (nearly £100,000 worth) in action. Maybe if they'd asked me I'd have admitted my criticism was unfounded (ho ho ho).

In light of the old saying, do you think they'd originally planned to serve drinks and hold it in a local brewery? It wouldn't surprise me.