Communities secretary Eric Pickles is at it again. After a brief respite, he is back to berating council chief executives over their terms and conditions.

In the past, we had attacks on boomerang bosses and fat cat pay – and this week he has turned to tackling ‘golden goodbyes'. Few could disagree with the secretary of state's broad aims here. He warns that incompetent council chiefs should not be paid vast sums of money if they are incapable of doing their jobs. Particularly as they head for the town hall's revolving door.