WITH more twists than an Olympic diver, the York pools saga today plumbed bizarre new depths.

The Save Our Barbican group has won full legal aid - to fund a review of why they were denied full legal aid.

You have to hand it to them. A less dogged group of protesters might have thrown in the towel after the High Court ruled the redevelopment of the Barbican site could go ahead. But they fight on.

Their bid for a judicial review of City of York Council's plans was scuppered through lack of funds.

But SOB have now been given the money by the Legal Services Commission to investigate why the Legal Services Commission chose not to give them the money in the first place.

Truly, the law is stranger than fiction. And a lot more lucrative.

These ludicrous machinations only confirm that the law is largely run for the benefit of the legal profession.

In the meantime, the closure of the Barbican approaches its first anniversary with little sign of progress.

The council dismissed the legal aid decision, believing it has won the battle of the Barbican.

We shall see.

All we know for sure is that the plans have now created the same levels of bad feeling as the original leisure centre proposal did in the late Eighties.

That is the single, sorry achievement of this wrangle to date.

Updated: 09:40 Thursday, June 23, 2005