We've had half a decade (some would argue longer) of strategic drift in local government policy, says Dr Jonathan Carr-West. The effect is that working in the sector ‘can feel like a particularly cruel Sisyphean punishment' – but what can we do about it?

No matter how many years have passed since I left school (it's a lot), September always feels like the real beginning of the year. You emerge from the doldrums of the late summer, people return to work and the kids are back at school, pencils sharpened.