Other local authority bankruptcies have been explained away as special cases. But this one may become an all-too-familiar storyIt is arguably no longer a surprise when a local authority declares itself, in effect, bankrupt. Nottingham city council is the fourth English council in the last 12 months to issue the dreaded section 114 notice, and the sixth in three years. It almost certainly will not be the last.To loosely paraphrase Leo Tolstoy, each council crashes in its own unhappy way. Woking, Croydon, Slough and Thurrock imploded under the weight of gigantic loans borrowed to fund their various risky commercial investments; Birmingham was dragged down by a huge equal-pay liability. Continue reading...