The Free-Flowing Tax Tap

Heard the one about a taxpayer-funded £380k being gurgled down the drain thanks to a fellow taxpayer-funded organisation?

No? The TPA has the details.

Despite reviews in the local and national press, a huge amount of publicity due to the controversy surrounding it and £380,000 of Screen WM investment, the taxpayer-funded movie 1 Day still only grossed a meagre £44k on its opening weekend at 80 cinemas nationwide.

Now, suspend your disbelief that a Midlands local authority collective should be allowed to spend so much on a project on which it's surprising to see your taxes spent. Just for a moment, eh?

Instead, ask yourself why it was such a flop, considering the huge publicity it attracted locally.

So far, this doesn’t exactly look like a great investment for West Midlands taxpayers who’ll now just be hoping that the film breaks even, and nor does 1 Day and it’s subject matter act as much of a tourist lure for the region – quite the opposite by all accounts. Worse still, people in Birmingham haven’t even had access to this film as all of the city’s cinemas chose not to screen it after a warning from the West Midlands Police that it may provoke clashes between rival gangs.

That's quite ridiculous! Why didn't Screen WM consult the police first to avoid such a waste of money?

Errr ... they did.

The entire cast was recruited from the streets in and around Handsworth and West Midlands Police liaised with film makers during the shoot.

Still no sign of a recession in the public sector, then.