This is something of a ‘letting light into magic’ special I’m afraid.

You’ll all be avidly reading the form guide to the runners in the upcoming city council elections, right? Right?

It’s one of the joys of a political reporter's life at election time to send emails to all the main parties telling them you’ll need a headshot of every candidate and a brief election pen portrait. Then when the official list of the candidates is published. you chase the smaller parties and independents. And you email. And email again. And then phone… then cajole. Then threaten. Then beg. Then sob.

Anyway, I can’t tell you who’s best and worst prepared before you go to the polls, lest it influences your vote. I can tell you that Worcester political parties are way better organised than those in Cheltenham.

Mind, so they ought to be, being on a constant election footing.

I did have a lovely conversation with one candidate (no names, no packdrill; no ward, no party; no woman, no cry) who said they hadn’t been asked to write any words, and should they get something across to me?

But… but, I said, I’ve got your words here, they’re fine. I proceeded to read them. And they were fine, accurate and pretty much what the candidate wanted to say. But turns out they’d been ghosted by shadowy backroom figures at local party HQ. I was shocked. Shocked, I tell you

It took this column two goes at it, but it seems it was correct about Mandy Richards being Labour’s woman to take on Robin Walker at the next general election.

One takes these minor triumphs where one finds them.

The report of the West Mercia Police and Crime Panel after its scrutiny of the sale of AB1 by PCC John Campion has been published.

But there's no flag to tell you it's been done. It’s been inserted, after the meeting, into the agenda published before the meeting. Just saying.