Even in these most tricky times for local government, it's unlikely things will ever get quite as bad as the scenarios confronting the 70 delegates from district councils who attended the recent District Councils' Network (DCN) Leadership Challenge Day.

The delegates were put into teams to make up the new senior management teams of four pretend ‘failing' district councils that together made up the fictitious county of Linford. The participants were the replacements for the previous senior team, who had all resigned.