There can hardly be sadder stories more illustrative of the waste of opportunity of the last ten years of government than that of the MLA.

We hear that the library staff of the MLA are all about to leave, which is news at the hearing of which the public should not weep. The record of grim uselesness, waste of money, failed and unthought out initiatives, horrible arrogance, deceit and incomprehensible mutilation of language and grammar has been exhausting.

The organisation now also has no chairman, no purpose, no sense of direction and is doing nothing. Its Ministers and their civil servants appear to have abandoned it with embarrassment and that shines no virtuous light upon them either. The whole lot of them should all go and roll in wet and dirty mud- and then stand and apologise to the public whom they have so let down.

The Tories had a meeting yesterday to talk about public library policy. Let's hope that there is some useful and sensible outcome.

In a democracy we do depend on politicians to take a lead and to take sensible action. Politics is not just about getting elected.

The Tories, of course, are already responsible for the majority of public libraries in England because of the number of local councils they control..

Let us hope....

'Sleep walking' was the expression used in a Demos report a few years ago to describe the state of the public library service.

Amanda Field makes the point that seems to be eluding all those (many) public librarians who are currently in debate about how to provide TV programmes for library users.

'Words fail me in regard to plans to show TV programmes at a Nottingham library. Perhaps you could also install a bar and re-name it Wetherspoons? This is a noisy world with very few places to go for quiet reading and study: a library used to be one of these places. Now they are filled with the sounds of people in the cafe, mobile phone ringtones, talking staff....even talking lifts, all of which (if Gosport is anything to go by) permeate every corner of the building because silence has been deemed to be politically incorrect.

I suppose the rationale for TV is that no-one goes into a library to read any more, because of the noise levels and because the book-stock is usually so dire.....so why not 'attract' some non-readers by having televisions (thus emitting even more noise). In what way, exactly, does MTV have any connection with literacy and reading......which is surely the sole reason for libraries' existence?'

The questions that both Amanda and I would ask are 'Why are you spending your time worrying about providing television programmes? and 'Who has decided that this is right thing to do? and 'Who is in Charge?"