This is a short blog to celebrate the governance in my home town of Portsmouth.

Just a little story that I would commend to some satire.

Portsmouth used to have a community hub arts centre in a local park.

Run by volunteers it was a hub for people to learn and enjoy creating art in a peaceful environment.

The hub got a little bit behind with its rent, so they decided to have a fundraising fair on a Saturday afternoon to raise the funds required to continue their 10 year tenure.

Portsmouth City Council approved and gave a license for the fundraising fair for the Saturday afternoon.

All well and good so far, very heart warming, except for the fact that,

Despite giving a license for the Saturday fundraising fair, the council decided to foreclose and evict the Arts Centre on the Monday before hand. Portsmouth City Council were wary of the trouble this might cause so, rather than use their own officers to foreclose the building, they decided to send the police in to do the job. Which the police did, with great effect, arrests were made and the building shut down, locks changed and the community arts hub discontinued.

4 short weeks later, Portsmouth City Council have decided to bid to be the 2018 European City of Culture.

Very cultured indeed of the Council, or is that too soon?

I might encourage Portsmouth city Council to ‘stay classy’ but that would assume they had any class to retain.

So I made this satirical infographic, it is too late for the community arts hub in Portsmouth now, but hopefully the officers of Portsmouth City Council will feel a little twinge of guilt at their own actions.