As I write, the Department of Communities and Local Government is in the dark – and not for the first time, you may argue. But today it is literally in the dark, not metaphorically, with a power cut leaving Eland House cut off from the world.

It appears they are not the only ones with a rather shady view of the world of local government, as Dispatches this week offered up its view of the sector. We learned how councils 'waste' millions of taxpayers cash.