And never has that been more perfectly illustrated than in a recent survey carried out among employees of Calderdale Council.

Which among other things asked what confidence they had in their elected members.

A reasonable question and one that with just a handful of dissenters might have passed by unnoticed.

There might even have been cause to rush out a press release revealing the harmonious relationship between public servant and councillor.
But alas no. The answer forthcoming was, to say the least, not what was expected.

Four out of five employees failed to voice full confidence in their elected members.

This leaves officers with an headache and they will now turn to the Talkback Panel, 1,500 members of the general public to counsel and advice. Heaven help them if history repeats itself.

Councils and councillors are sitting ducks. The very nature of what they do means they will never please everyone. The same can be said of central government and MPs too.

However when the people on the council payroll show so little faith in elected colleagues then something is clearly wrong.

Unison describes it as a wake-up call. With a bucket of iced water more like!