The new Birmingham council ward boundaries announced will have been greeted with differing reactions from the leaders of Birmingham's Labour and Conservative groups.
Tory leader Robert Alden was absolutely delighted that a corner of Wylde Green around the Yenton pub had been brought into his Erdington ward. Yenton is the part of Erdington that estate agencies optimistically call Sutton Coldfield borders.
As such, a number of Conservative-leaning properties have been brought into the new Erdington ward, shoring up his position.
In contrast, I am told Quinton, the ward represented by Labour leader John Clancy, is looking more marginal following the shake-up.
Residents on the Labour-leaning Welsh House Farm estate successfully campaigned to be moved into neighbouring Harborne ward.
My electoral analysis correspondent wonders if Coun Clancy will bail in 2018.
But, given that there will be an overall reduction of 19 councillors across the city and all three member wards will be scrapped, it's inevitable there will be much jockeying for position. This is likely to be particularly brutal in the Labour Party as the pro- and anti-Corbyn factions tear each other apart.
Nervous times ahead for all involved.
Not joined up thinking
Memories of the ridiculous first draft of Birmingham council wards issued late year are receding. But the national version of the Boundary Commission certainly brought them flooding back with its proposals for Parliamentary constituency boundaries for 2020 onwards.
Putting aside allegations the Conservative Government set out equal size criteria to benefit them, and that numbers from last year’s electoral register are already out of date since two million more people signed up to vote in the EU referendum, there are still problems with the new set up.
The names needs some work. It had never occurred to me that Halesowen and Selly Oak are neighbours and that Ladywood snakes from the city centre to eastern edge of Castle Vale estate (see graphic above).
Yet again the Boundary Commission has set the creation of equal constituencies above considerations of community identity and cohesiveness. But the map makers' insistence on sticking to existing council ward boundaries is somewhat baffling.
Apparently, lining up wards and constituencies is desirable but in Birmingham that does not apply as the wards are changing and those used will be out of date by 2020.
It seems that sticking to wards simply limits the options for the Boundary Commission and makes it easier for them to divide Britain into 600 equal constituencies. It does nothing to improve the quality of those divisions and give MPs an effective constituency to work with.
Race to the bottom for taxis
Birmingham's licensing chiefs have decided to lower the bar for minicab drivers after cutting the requirement for them to sit a Knowledge Test and prove they can get about the city unaided before handing them a license.
The problem is that neighbouring local authorities do not require such a test so many drivers are simply applying there for permission to ferry people about the city.
This starves the city council's licensing division of funds and could ultimately lead to cuts in enforcement of those licensing condition.
So in a bid to win back some of that trade the test is being axed - after all drivers can pick up an A to Z or follow a sat-nav to get about.
Instead, drivers will have to sit a short test to prove they know what they can and can't do - no plying for hire folks - and have a decent grasp of English.
Councillors complained that many drivers come before licensing hearings not knowing how to behave - the condition of their cars and expected levels of customer service for example.
There seems to be a race to the bottom for private hire licenses between the local authorities of the West Midlands. While our new regional combined authority is about taking on powers handed down from the Government, there could also be a case for handing powers up from individual councils.
And surely the taxi and minicab licensing regime is one of the first that should be considered.
Happy (tuneless) Birthday to the Lord Mayor
There can be little doubt that Lord Mayor Carl Rice is a popular figure among his council colleagues after they took an unprecedented step of wishing him a happy 60th birthday at the start of the monthly full council meeting.
He is genuinely well liked on all sides of the council chamber.
Councillors erupted in a spontaneous chorus of Happy Birthday which, while heartwarming, was, as accurately described by Coun Claire Spencer, humorously tuneless.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Council House later that evening, there was a more accomplished chorus of White Christmas ringing out from a committee room which I assume was the council's staff choir which received national fame on BBC's The Choir a couple of years back.
I think we can safely assume that few, if any, councillors will be joining up any time soon.
