Ian, I remember a time before Austerity. I remember the branch libraries where I live being under threat of closure, or handover to volunteers, long before grants to local authorities were decimated. It was a way, put forward by leaders of the Service itself, to save *risible* amounts of money.

It is a fact that the march towards the whirlwind we are reaping began in the corridors of power prior to Austerity. Chief Librarians were excited (and many are still excited) about collaborating with government, so as to be in the vanguard of changing the face of library provision and to ‘modernise’ it.

Now it has all gone pear-shaped. Now some of them are distraught? Oh dear.