Council leaders are sometimes accused of being married to their jobs. Up and down the country there must be countless council WAGs – or indeed HABs – spouses are used to being kept up all night . . . until their other half gets home from that all-important children and young people overview and scrutiny committee meeting. At conferences throughout the year, there are several local government ‘power couples' who would make the Taxpayers' Alliance proud with their economical use of shared hotel rooms. That doesn't go for the delegates who are supposed to be in separate rooms, obviously, although Diary is sure those sorts of shenanigans just don't happen in the world of local government. As Lib Dem MP John Pugh told a recent select committee hearing: ‘The relationship between a chief officer and a leader of a council is normally quite a close one. You [leaders] may see more of your chief officer than your wife at times.' This may be true – though Diary is well aware of many examples where the equivalent of marital bliss is far from evident.