I'm sure there are problems at times - an American colleague in the office mentioned that Idaho's a very difficult place to be poor in" for example.

But here, there is no real possibility for competition - tax or otherwise - between local authorities. At the moment they might as well have a national housing benefit service and a national environmental health police for all the good it does to have such things statutorily mandated from on high with little wiggle room as to how you do them.

I just don't see why one has to fight and win at Westminster to allow my more local representatives to do something differently because DCLG lets them.

There needs to be a grass roots rebellion of local people taking an interest in local governance and declaring independencef rom DCLG somehow. But it's not exactly a "sexy" issue is it!

We can't even get people outraged at the state Oxford's in - one of the wealthiest authorities in the country by assets, yet an utter basket case to manage."