McCartney's Money Mix Up

Elvis Costello alluded to the chaos surrounding the McCartney concert at Anfield during his own gig at the Philharmonic Hall in June, citing it as a reason for his no-show. The financial aspect of the farce surrounding the event is now clear (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/10/27/paul-mccartney-i-owe-liverpool-300-000-100252-22125410/ ).
MPL, McCartney's production company, was paid £323,046 by the city council (&, by extension, the city's council tax payers) "because the council ended up providing staffing 'commitments' for which MPL was paid.
"The ECHO understands MPL flagged up the debt to the council."
In other words, it was left to Macca's people to inform the council of this farce. It speaks volumes about the ramshackle & frankly negligent auditing procedures employed by the city council. And it doesn't end there, oh, no; the council has lost money on last June's Liverpool Sound concert at Anfield:
"The balance shows around £1,917,000 was spent staging the event which generated £1,874,318."
That's a loss of £42,682 to Liverpool's council tax payers. Warren, Jase, take a bow!
Oh, by the way, there's an extra £300,000 which the council spent on a feasibility study to assess the pros & cons of a concert at the Salthouse Dock, something Tony Parrish expertly documented on the Liverpool SubCulture blog last year (http://liverpoolsubculture.blogspot.com/ ).
The Echo quotes the council's claim that "the June concert did wonders for the city's image, equivalent to millions of pounds worth of advertising exposure at home and abroad."
Believe that & you'll believe anything; the original plan to have the concert televised live both in the UK & abroad was shelved by the BBC & other broadcasters when it became clear that, apart from Sir Thumbs-Up himself, the line-up for the evening was alarmingly threadbare. This was due in no small measure to the rank mismanagement of the Culture Company.
Instead, an edited highlights package on the BBC later that evening served as a limp apologia for an event which could & should have been a fitting showcase of Liverpool music, both past & present.