Labour hoped the London borough elections would be the "wheelie bin elections", fought on parochial issues with voters forming their opinions based on the quality of local council services: are the streets clean and the bins emptied?
Consider the quality of the council you take.
There are larger cities holding votes on the same day, such as Birmingham, and cities that are convulsed by angrier rows about the quality of their local councils, such as Nottingham.
The White House has a national security council, a council on environmental quality, the council of economic advisors, the council on women and girls, and the council on jobs and competitiveness.
In the council, he was a quality-of-life proponent.
A recent report by the National Audit Office NAOO) found progress had been poor and deemed the quality of services provided by councils in England "unsatisfactory and inconsistent".
Parks, playing fields, swimming pools, leisure centres, the non-statutory, civic, health and quality of life provision which councils originally took over from a patchwork of philanthropic monuments, have been inescapably cut during the five years straddling the Olympics, for which £9.3bn of public money was found.
"Councils and ministers need to stop all demolition of good quality council homes and instead invest in existing and new homes to meet the growing and desperate housing need for secure and really affordable council housing".
"Ofsted will be the only arbiter of quality, removing any council duplication.
Education Minister Leighton Andrews said he was "very concerned" at the quality of education services offered by councils.
