Social animal

A place in the country
The idea of moving large government offices out of London is loved by think tanks, but hated by plenty of civil servants. Now it's caught on in Wales: the Welsh Assembly's housing directorate looks set to move from Cardiff to the former mining area of Merthyr Tydfil. Like their English counterparts, many of the directorate's workforce are less than overjoyed at the prospect of upping sticks and moving to the, er, sticks. Things could have been worse, though: other suggested locations include Aberystwyth and Bangor, both much further north of the capital.

Show us the money
Who's got more money, a Premiership football club or a local authority? Well, in Leeds at least, it looks like the obvious answer may not be the correct one. At the Local Government Association's urban conference last week, Leeds council leader Keith Wakefield urged the assembled delegates to dig deep and give generously in the name of Leeds United. Rumour has it that he even set up a collection box at the back of the conference hall.

Tetris? Ha!
Setting council tax isn't as easy as it seems, you know. To illustrate the point, Westminster council has devised an internet game that gives players an insight into the factors involved in setting the tax. Join the fun at www.westminster.gov.uk.

"We'll be sending the game to Michael Howard and Tony Blair, as both are residents of Westminster," said Kit Malthouse, the council's deputy leader and cabinet member for finance. Let's hope they do better than Social animal, which scored a measly one out of eight.

Infallible logic
News of a genius idea has reached me from Liverpool. The council has just started selling advertising space on the city's lampposts.

It is expected to bring in up to £500,000 each year and plans are already in place for spending the windfall. The cash raised by putting up shiny, new adverts is expected to be spent removing unsightly fly posters – in other words, old adverts.

A glimpse of stocking …
Social animal dropped in at the Chartered Institute of Housing's presidential dinner last Wednesday. As usual, the Strand Hotel was commandeered for the great and good who had travelled from afar and needed a place to sleep.

This year, though, they were sharing the hotel with a tour of – as one attendee intriguingly phrased it – "lively Welsh ladies" visiting London to take in a few shows. Both parties left for their evening engagements at 7pm and upon their return the singing, apparently, went on into the night. Obviously, this was only the Welsh – housing's finest surely don't know the words to "Anything goes".