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Oh, for the heady passion of office romance. The long lingering looks over the photocopier.The attentive offer to make the object of your workplace affections a cup of tea just the way they like it. The frisson of excitement as secret lovers exchange covert glances and signals during what would otherwise be an interminable information safeguarding workshop. But this is not how they see things in deepest darkest Suffolk. Instead, Ipswich BC has issued a code of conduct requiring staff to inform senior management about any flings that could be considered a conflict of interest. And it is not just about dipping the proverbial pen in the company inkwell. Both one-night stands and long-standing liaisons with councillors, outside contractors and suppliers must also be disclosed to Ipswich's sex police. Ipswich leader Cllr Davie Ellesmere branded the dalliance diktat ‘common sense'. ‘It is something fairly common,' he conceded. ‘We are not banning relationships but we need to know if they are going to impact on council business,' Cllr Ellesmere said. To all those working in Ipswich, in Suffolk or indeed throughout the length and breadth of the land, Diary, like a modern day Eros, sends arrows charged with love potential for local government. Love can be a many-splendoured thing, it has been sung. And romance can be both modern, as, er, ‘80s soulsters Modern Romance crooned, or as Lady Gaga would have it, we could even write one and get caught up in a bad form of romance. But all the same, illicit or otherwise, it's well worth celebrating. Diary is with the lovers of Ipswich, and not the corporate haters, in this argument.

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Bad romance in the town hall

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