The continued, inexplicable failure of central government to get a grip on formulating policy – it's raison d'etre – has generated more than enough excitement and drama to obscure the real issue: its impact on local public service delivery.

If politics is, as received wisdom suggests, ‘showbiz for ugly people', then policy formulation is usually seen as more of a cultish sub-genre – think of role-playing game aficionados, Dr Who fanatics or 70s prog-rock obsessives.