I had my usual lunchtime spot. I didn’t believe in eating a sandwich at my desk. Get out the office and clear my head was my aim. As a regular, staff recognised me. One day the young woman who usually made my cappuccino came from behind the counter and over to my window seat. ‘Is it right you work for the council and are a senior manager ?’ I anticipated a request for advice about an elderly relative, frustration about dealing with the system or a complaint about the potholes. But no it was none of these.

She explained she was a student at the university studying journalism and she was writing an assignment on Local Government. ‘Could she interview me?’, she asked. ‘OK what is it you want to know ?’. ‘What local government does, how it works’, she replied. ‘It won’t take long’, she said!  I offer to meet her in my office, but she said she preferred to interview me in the cafe at the end of her shift. I agreed and thought I better check out whether this interview would be under Chatham House rules. She didn’t know what these were. I explained it meant anything I said could not be attributed to me which would mean I could speak more freely without being concerned about the risk of upsetting my boss or embarrassing the local authority.