Keren Suchecki

At the time of writing, Gordy hasn’t decided whether to test his popularity with the rest of us. We’re all alert to not-so-subtle indicators like promising troops home for Christmas. But another clue was that the results of the comprehensive spending review (CSR) are due to be published next week – a whole fortnight early (but still 18 months late: oh how government warps the brain).

Personally I don’t care whether we have an election or not (all political parties bore and disgust me) but I do care about the CSR and the processes it will trigger.

The vanity project that was Tony’s long goodbye has delayed the CSR to the point where the regeneration funded of the voluntary sector are being brought to their knees. I’m spending my days consoling sobbing project managers as they desperately try to secure a future for their services and staff in an environment where there is no certainty for any of us.

My fear is that if the CSR isn’t detailed enough in its proposals, then Gordon’s own vanity project, the election, will shut down government and not allow local processes to determine regeneration budgets for the coming financial year.

The government waxes lyrical about how it values the voluntary sector for its flexibility and value for money and then abuses it for political gain by delaying difficult, but crucial, decisions to save its own face. If there are any further delays the reality is that by the time local government completes its decision-making processes, voluntary sector projects dependant on regeneration funding will have run out of money, lost experienced staff and, if they manage to survive that disaster, they’ll have to spend months rebuilding their services.

If an election has been called by the time you’re reading this then I may well have f***ked off and got myself a job in Asda. I can’t cope with any more tears.

Keren Suchecki is learning and development manager at Hartcliffe and Withywood Community Partnership in Bristol