The 4th Private Eye article highlights one of the more blatant cases of mis-management by Hartlepool Councillors but there is a side-effect of all of this which also can't be ignored. Council Officers from different authorities, especially at the more senior levels, are known to keep in touch. This is generally a good thing as they face similar problems and can often benefit from each others experience in dealing with them.
Inevitably, there is also an element of gossip attached to this and it will come as no surprise to anyone that the events at HBC gives it the equivalent of twitter's 'trending' status.
In practical terms, what this means is that you spend a fortune advertising for a Director of Children's Services and even though you might get as far as having a short-list of 7 candidates, come the day of the interview, only 2 turn up.
Such is the basket case reputation of HBC.