A couple of months ago, I suggested, in this column, that one consequence of the financial pressures facing local government was that a number of councils would soon find themselves receiving no grant at all, funded from council tax receipts and their locally-retained share of business rates only – poor but free, in other words.

A very slender silver lining to a rather dark and stormy cloud perhaps, but it's something to hold on to – for some, at least. Another interesting ramification of the financial tumult convulsing the sector is the emphasis it will place on political priorities.