We need SOLACE on Newsnight

Our regular columnist, Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of ACEVO, the voluntary sector chiefs association, is quite a media star. He ought to get repeat fees judging by the number of times he has appeared on Newsnight.
He was on again last night, in a discussion chaired by Jeremy Paxman on George Osborne's attack on tax-avoiding millionaires and donations to alleged spurious 'charities' which were merely front operations. Stephen quite rightly gave a robust defence of charities and how Osborne's comments were hitting donations and also demanded evidence of these charities because if they are not above board then they will be dealt with by the Charity Commission.
But my point is not about the discussion but about how the media selects its representatives. Around the table were a Tory MP, someone from the City, someone from the TUC - a pretty good cross-section in other words, for a debate and Stephen is an excellent spokesman for the voluntary sector.
But it occurs to me that if this were a discussion about local government - and there have been plenty in the past few months - would we see a representive from SOLACE on Newsnight? I suspect not. Indeed I don't believe the society has ever been on Newsnight. There are numerous occasions when local government could be represented in such debates - the recent Darra Singh report on the riots, or the welfare reform issue or council tax levels or housing come to mind just from the last few weeks. I don't blame SOLACE. It may be because of the media's lack of interest in councils. But local government needs a meddia-savvy representative like Sir Stephen Bubb to bat for it.