?As more local authorities say they can’t balance the budget and are effectively bankrupt did councillors ignore the advice of their finance officers and undermine the independence of their chief executives? Or was this the inevitable consequence of years of central government underfunding.

‘…..it is extremely important to understand the political undercurrents and be sensitive to them. Paradoxically that is how you retain the independence to act by giving way on what does not matter whilst standing firm on what does.’  International banker Raghuram Raman was talking about the role of the governor of the Bank of England but he could have been referring to that of a local authority chief executive (CE)