When my father was a local councillor he came home one day and announced, “It’s official, I’m the third most important person in the town.”
He’d just been made chairman of planning and by his reckoning, top was the boss of the shipyard and by far the biggest employer, next was the council leader, then came chairman of planning.
So critical was the role, he said, that it gave him a place in the nuclear shelter. Alas, as he delighted in telling us, the invitation did not extend to the rest of his family.