Come rain or shine, The MJ brings you all the latest local government news – although we have been skating on thin ice this week.

I refer, of course, to the snowy struggles of the winter whiteout, and the hazardous journey into the MJ offices. We have faced a bit of a lottery as to who exactly would make it into the work – and who would be available at the other end of the phone – as the wrong kind of weather stymied trains, planes and automobiles.