It never mattered that central government was as becalmed as the ocean at Bournemouth last week for somehow the seaside atmosphere seemed to percolate into the town’s international centre where 1,400 delegates gathered for the Local Government Association annual conference (LGA).

If you wanted entertainment then the Boris and Jeremy show was in town, if it was an update on the global economy there was Bank of England governor Mark Carney and his magic graphs, if it was some dry financial stats then there were sessions on the Spending Review plus there was sun, sea and ice cream and to cap it all, an end of event disco whose DJ was Chris Naylor, the chief executive of Barking & Dagenham LBC.