KPMG is wrapping up a hugely important piece of work on the future of Worcestershire's councils which could go a long way towards shaping the future, if indeed there is one, for our local authorities.

Indeed, it could be described as a minor miracle that a relatively small county the size of Worcestershire still has seven distinct councils given what's happened since the turn of the century.

We've had years of severe funding cuts, job losses galore, shared services popping up here, there and everywhere, ever-deeper outsourcing and even the outrageous flirting between Malvern and Wychavon to the point where they actually share a boss.

Yet no council has taken a gulp, lit the bonfire and made that final leap into a fully-blown merger.

More than one council leader has told yours truly that they consider mergers or even going unitary a 'red line' for Worcestershire, a step they are not willing to cross.

But you wonder in the end if this is a decision which will effectively be made for them - especially when so-called devolved powers are bandied around as the carrot in return.

It's all about tackling the deficit, innit Dave?

* WORCESTER City Council's housing waiting list stood at 4,500 in 2013, until a clever tactic to ask people to write in and 're-register' saw it drop to 2,300.

A similar exercise this year means that tally is now down to around 1,500, which the council insists is a more 'reliable' figure of housing need.

Either that or there's an enormous amount of people out there who need to read their post properly.

* RATHER than getting tanned from the warm weather, it's been a summer of embarrassment-induced redness at Worcestershire County Council after civil liberties campaigners unearthed 97 cases of personal data breaches in three years, what you and I would call cock-ups.

I hear County Hall is being re-named 'Butter Fingers HQ'.

Maybe the 'keeping hold of massively important personal data' department could be outsourced to Lurpak.

* If Jeremy Corbyn wins, will there be a new category for people who are members of the Labour Party, but not supporters?