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Last year's LGA conference had the theme ‘Putting people first'. This year, it is tackling ‘Big issues, local solutions' – while still, presumably, putting people first.

But what a difference. There can't have been many times where the context for this conference could have changed so dramatically from one year to the next.

Yes, things were challenging in 2008, but nobody was talking about a huge government budget deficit, a shrinking economy, and unemployment moving to 10%. This, coupled with a meltdown in the moral authority of Parliament and an increasingly angry public.

What is clear is that the orthodoxy of continuous improvement and efficiency can't be enough going forward. At a national level, there is a desperate need for political courage and honesty to be introduced into the debate on the future of public services.

In spite of the fine words about transparency and new politics, the evidence so far shows the same old twisting, points scoring and short-term game playing.

But finding local solutions to these big issues will also require courage and honesty at a local level.  

There must be a PowerPoint presentation kit at CLG for use in the induction of new secretaries of state with a slide headed, ‘Things to say to local government'. It includes:

* make a lot of noises around giving more powers to local government, and more of a grown-up central local relationship. Perhaps something on shifting the balance of power – but don't mention Lyons

* announce a commission – we've just done councillors – don't worry, it's been filed in the basement – so maybe something on local government pay and perks, just to show we are taking it seriously

* don't mention Lyons

* don't worry about being challenged.

This is a tried and trusted ‘Operation Groundhog Day'. Seems to work every time.