One consequence of the insane system of "local" government in Britain is the grouping together of several large towns in certain parts of the country into things called "Metropolitan Districts". The result is profoundly unstable local politics in these places; parochial voting patterns in local elections make it tough for parties to get close winning majorities or form stable coalitions, meaning that administrations come, go and are toppled on a frequent basis. A good example of this is "Kirklees" in the West Riding of Yorkshire; it's made up of Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Batley and several collections of large villages (Spen Valley, Home Valley, etc), no party is close to a majority and administrations have, well, come and gone quite frequently in recent years. Including the other night, when a Tory-led administration was replaced by a Lab-Lib coalition. Which isn't worthy of a thread on it's own, obviously. This post is really just an excuse to post this gem from one of the local newspapers;
