What happened to small is beautiful? The three Conservative councils in London that plan to amalgamate their services seem intent on regional government - but I fear something more sinister is in the offing.
They claim it would result in savings of up to £100m for Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. But the underlying effects are more mendacious.
The tone of the leader of Hammersmith and Fulham, Stephen Greenhalgh, on Radio 4's Today sounded like one of pride that jobs would be lost, echoing the gory delight of Conservative MPs in the House of Commons after George Osborne, axe bloodied, delivered his spending review on Wednesday.
Two things strike me about the London councils' plans.
First, any long-term contracts that the three agree with service providers - and, boy, will they be long - will prove difficult, perhaps legally and financially impossible, to break should one of the councils have a change of heart.
Realistically, this change of heart could only occur in Hammersmith and Fulham, where Labour and the Tories have regularly exchanged power for the past 30 years.
Which brings me to my second point. If Labour does take control next time, it might find itself unable to undo the measures the Tories have set in stone. In other words, the wishes of the voters of Hammersmith and Fulham would be vetoed by the built-in Tory majorities of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea.
It is nothing short of electoral gerrymandering.
This is the reason why Hammersmith & Fulham Council were so determined to change the terms and conditions of their employees last year - it makes it a lot easier to merge services if workers across the three boroughs are on the same terms and conditions.
Bad for local democracy AND bad for workers in the three boroughs concerned
Could this be the start of things to come?
Kent County Council is cutting 1,500 jobs. A few months ago, Kent and Surrey were going into "partnership", but I don't know what became of that. Why am I always suspicious whenever I hear the word "partnership" bandied about?