While there are few surprises when it comes to local government's ability to attract the blame for issues of national significance they have had very little control over, even a cynic like myself was shocked at how quickly they became the whipping boys on public health when recent life expectancy league tables were published.

That's not because I don't think local government should carry a significant responsibility for public health or because I don't think they can improve local life expectancy significantly given the resources – but because responsibility for public health improvement only transferred to them from 31 March this year, after 40 years with the NHS.