Three things make them interesting.

The first is that the county council spends £700m. a year and, given that money is in such short supply these days, the thought of getting a bigger share of it for the Ribble Valley is a really worthwhile notion.

The second is that, after 28 long years of Labour control, it now seems there may be a change to the Conservatives. As it happens, I do not trust either of those parties any more than I trust the other, but there is one thing of which I think we can be reasonably sure – the Labour Party will have been spending as much as it could of the £700m. on Labour boroughs and the Conservatives, if they win control, will spend as much as they can on Conservative boroughs.

And the third interesting feature of the election is rather technical, but certainly worthy of attention. Out of the 84 members of the county council, there are eight who are neither Labour nor Conservative and will therefore play no part at all in the battle for the money.

They are not a single group and, between them, share three labels. I will give them to you in alphabetical order, but, before I do, I have to say I am utterly desolated that the first will not be putting up a candidate in Clitheroe.

They are the Idle Toad Party, an Independent and the Liberal Democrats. If they were standing in Clitheroe and we were living in more prosperous times, I feel almost certain I would take a stroll down to the Polling Station, after dinner on June 4th, to cast my ballot for the Idle Toad Party.

I have not the least idea what they stand for and it would not really matter, but it would be an utterly delightful way of saying I do not like the main parties and would prefer to vote for almost anyone else.

Regrettably, however, times are not prosperous and a bigger share of the £700m. will only come to a Labour or Conservative Clitheroe – depending on which gains control of the county council. In the current marketplace, a vote for any other party is just too expensive for the likes of me.

We still don't know the names of the candidates, though I have heard the Conservatives may have selected an expert on local government finance. His dad was the town clerk of Cardiff and he has worked for donkeys' years as a lawyer for one of the metropolitan authorities so, if anyone knows how to purloin chunks of money for his home town, I suppose it should be him.

If he wins, we must hope that, though he is not an Idle Toad, he is not an idle toad.

I will keep you posted.