Financial crises are rare, but do happen: Northamptonshire, Hackney and Hillingdon in the UK; Detroit, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and places too small to register outside their home state in the USA. All have had financial crises in the last 20 years.

Rare as they are, there has been no shortage of commentators predicting financial armageddon across local government. We at PFM think those concerns are overdone, but there are clear lessons to learn and stark warnings to heed from home and abroad.