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The UK's second-biggest city is so broke they can no longer keep the lights on (www.abc.net.au)

submitted 2 weeks ago by MHLoppy@fedia.io to c/worldnews@aussie.zone

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In short: The second-largest city in the United Kingdom is in heavy debt with childhood poverty near 50 per cent

The city is turning out lights at night and making garbage collection fortnightly to save money

What's next? The UK heads to the polls on July 4 as Rishi Sunak's Conservative party faces a challenge from Sir Keir Starmer and Labour

The cuts will also see 25 of the city's libraries close, money for children's services slashed and a 100 per cent funding cut to the arts and culture sector by 2026.

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[–] WaterWaiver@aussie.zone 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

This council also got suckered in by Oracle. Nothing deserves such a fate.

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366572935/Birmingham-City-Councils-Oracle-implementation-explained-What-went-wrong

Do not EVER engage Oracle with a business deal. They are the epitome of "it will cost a lot more than you budget for", that's their speciality. You can try and blame customisation scope or wrong support people, but even if you got those right they'd find some other way of milking you.

[–] notgold@aussie.zone 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

System was supposed to save 1/2 million per year has cost them an extra 85million in 2 years. That's 170 years of proposed savings. Council is expecting it to cost a further 46 million to fix. Fuck Oracle and fuck the IT manager that accepted this

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They should sue and use oracles history to show they do it on purpose and so were disingenuous in negotiations.

[–] WaterWaiver@aussie.zone 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

No no no, that just reflects the nature of the difficult market of problems that Oracle is trying to solve. Just because they choose to solve difficult problems for people shouldn't mean they get punished. 🪂

[–] notgold@aussie.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago

True I never thought of those poor poor consultants figuring out bespoke systems to cater for all the individuals in Birmingham. They should be paid more for what they do