TALK of boundary change has been in the air this week.
I don't know if the Scots will vote to pay their own bills in future or if they will decide to let England keep bailing them out, and I really don't care.
Rather more important is the consultation on changing the boundaries between Hull and the East Riding.
To put it in a nutshell for anyone who has not been paying attention for the past 100 years or so – Hull is jealous of the rural areas around it – not least the higher educational standards and rateable income they represent.
Don't try to tell me I'm wrong about this – apologists for the schools in Hull are always whinging that it's not fair to compare them with places such as Leeds, where the green bits around are counted as well.
The East Riding, on the other hand, doesn't like the teeming hordes living inside the boundaries.
It's true – I've never heard anyone propose that County Hall should put in a bid to reclaim traditional East Riding locales such as Drypool, Sculcoates, Sutton or Marfleet. Too foreign now.
Why do people want to keep faffing around with such irrelevancies? Do they honestly think these will change things in a big way?
What would happen if Hull absorbed the schools in the immediate vicinity that had better results? It might lift the city up the league tables but that, I suspect, is only a matter of great importance to those educationalists who swagger around at national conferences and meet people from higher up the league tables.
I would suggest this is irrelevant to the individual teacher at the harsh coal face of education.
Would this instant rise in relative standings do anything other than hide the fact that schools in the most urban parts of town were still doing badly compared with their sylvan cousins?
I doubt it, because that's nothing to do with good management.
What would probably happen is that existing Hull council officials would be awarded pay rises (because of the extra responsibility, you know) and additional staff to cope with it.
Then they'd also get bonuses because the city would have climbed up the league tables, but in real terms nothing would have changed.
At the same time, East Riding Council would probably keep exactly the same number of staff despite having fewer responsibilities – and nothing else would change.
The bottom line is that reorganisations are rarely a good idea. Most of them are like repainting the funnels on the Titanic for marketing purposes just as the ship goes down.
In the 19th century, Hull was transformed into a prosperous and desirable city (yes, it really was, check the history books) by the actions of a few people such as Sir John Ellerman, Joseph Rank and the various Reckitts, who all had local pride and took the long view when managing their enterprises – leading to real progress all around.
Instead of moving the goalposts, why not try to improve what you've already got?
Find out if your managers have pride in their area and pride in their jobs, and kick out those who are more driven by spreadsheets and meetings where the only things of substance are the fussy sandwiches.
That could be transformational for Hull.
And keep your hands off East Riding – I've become very proud of it over the years.
Neil Pickford: by day a mild-mannered virger: by night…he walks the streets and tries to make sense of it all. You can read more of Neil's various meanderings at his website • ThePickfordPapers