Local nannies

Councillors in Manchester are aiming to make the city the first to ask all its residents to sign a "good citizen" contract. A blogging son of the city shares his reservations:

"What can you do to make the city a better place? Well, take a good citizenship contract and ram it so far up your nearest local councillor's arse that his responsibilities are coming out of his eyeballs. That would be a start."

Why do councillors have this annoying habit of mistaking themselves for our parents? The notion of a 'contract' implies some recognition of understanding and choice - so we could say the attitude of Manchester councillors would be appropriate if its citizens were, ooh, as old as about twelve.

This would represent a generous assessment for our lot - for here they have mistaken their citizens for toddlers.