LAST week, Mr Brocklebank remarked on the quite remarkable row between two of the city's younger politicians, Wavertree MP Luciana Berger and Cllr Jake Morrison.

The 32-year-old and the 20-year-old have been chucking their toys out of their respective prams about each's treatment of the other, and the squabble resulted in a very public and highly entertaining row which culminated in the younger of the two being suspended from the Labour Party, apparently over allegations of 'bringing the party into disrepute', or, in other words, speaking his mind publicly about his feeling he was being squeezed out by Ms Berger and co.

IT'S impressive to think that, even before the telephone was part of daily life, Charles Dickens had the foresight to recognise some of the perils the future of communications.

For the great man said: "Electric communication will never be a substitute for the face of someone who with their soul encourages another person to be brave and true."

Fast forward more than a century, and in the age of Facebook and twitter, that statement is largely true. There is no shortage, after all, of 'telephone tough guys' who are possessed of amazing bravery when it comes to posting messages via these media, even though they would little doubt be less willing to make the same comments while standing face to face with those they are criticising (sometimes in the foulest of terms).

MR BROCKLEBANK would beg the reader's good grace to allow him to return to a subject matter which has been one of the highlights of the municipal week, the enthronement of city Cllr Gary Millar as Lord Mayor of Liverpool.

At the risk of beginning to sound like certain other seasoned columnists from the city's press who have been frequently given to write about Cllr Millar (albeit not in such benevolent terms as Mr B - who must be going soft in his old age), the squire was highly entertained by the installation at the town hall last week.

FORMER Thai president Thaksin Shinawatra said, following his deposition in 2006 while on a visit to the UK, that "I'm very disappointed by the mature-democracy countries. I was ousted by a coup d'etat."

In recent weeks, one of Merseyside's longest-serving political leaders, whom mature democracy placed at the helm of one of our councils several times over the course of four decades, was ousted, that being Cllr Marie Rimmer in St Helens.

However, without being too pedantic, Mr Brocklebank should point out that there were some subtle differences between how events unfolded in the Far East and how they unfolded just down the M62: for one, Mr Shinawatra left many thinking that perhaps he knew the coup was coming, given that he decided to take his family and most of his possessions with him on his trip to Britain (and his chequebook, too, for he went on to buy Manchester City while stuck for something to do).

MANY a Merseyside eyebrow was raised earlier this week by the revelation that the region's, ahem, sperm banks are running so low on resources that they've had to resort to drafting it in from... of all places, Manchester!

But the smirks that may be across the faces of many a Mancunian this week (and Mr Brocklebank can only imagine the chants of Manchester United fans from the Anfield terraces on their next visit) will not be limited to this particular story.

UNLESS the dear reader has been in an induced coma or hiding in a nuclear bunker deep under ground over the last few days, he has probably heard of the death of former Prime Minister, and scourge of Merseyside, Margaret Thatcher.

Given how interminable the TV coverage was, with the same clips showing for the thousandth time, it was lucky for Mr Brocklebank that the television on which he was forced to endure the continuous coverage was in one of his regular taverns.

Her passing did of course mean a retinue of former Conservative colleagues being trotted out in front of the cameras to mourn the loss of the Iron Lady.

NO SECRET was ever made of the fact that, with Liverpool council having to cope with crippling cuts, there was a chance that the place could start looking a bit shabby.

After all, with almost every aspect of town hall services having to be cut back to accommodate government deficit reduction requirements, there just wouldn't be as much money available to keep the place looking spick and span.

But, while the avenues and alleyways of Liverpool centre have started to look a bit grotty in recent months, the businesses of the city have, Mr Brocklebank hears, decided to take matters into their own hands in a Big Society-esque move that would make old David Cameron proud.

WHILE Joe Anderson was (allegedly) invested with a range of new powers when the city adopted the Mayoral model, control over tax avoidance, the ability to jail bankers and to save the world from environmental ruin were not amongst them.

However, Mr Brocklebank fears that some within this borough are under a very different impression, or so it would seem at least from last week's cabinet meeting.

A number of protesters against plans to sell off a patch of land near Sefton Park braved the snow and sleet (more than some cabinet members were able to do, however) to attend the meeting and air their displeasure at the council's plans.

Mayor Joe duly allowed them to come in out of the cold, lay down their placards and make their case for the opposition.

IF THERE'S one man who gets up mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson's nose more than local government secretary Eric Pickles (and Mr Brocklebank himself), it must surely be former Walton MP - and Labour colleague, no less - Peter Kilfoyle.

The spirit of fraternity between the two is long dead, and soured during the 2010 general election when Kilfoyle hit out at the nomination of "student politician" Luciana Berger for the Wavertree seat and Joe responded by saying some people (though not him of course) thought Peter was "past his sell by date".

But Kilfoyle's retort of "I'm glad Joe's defending me - just like I defend him against people who say he's incompetent" probably landed the "Killer" blow on their relationship, or what there was of it in the first place.

THERE are probably very few people in Liverpool who would say their local councillor is 'one in a million' - and they'd be wrong to if they did, because they're actually one in five thousand.

Currently, 90 of the city's great and good represent between them around 450,000 city residents.

But some in political circles have argued for some time that having close to 100 councillors is a luxury the people of Liverpool can ill afford, and given how few people turn out to vote in certain wards come election time, the public don't exactly give a ringing endorsement of the worthiness of their elected representatives.