I'm sure there must be others out there who are as puzzled as I by an item that appeared in the latest County Council spin sheet.
According to the new council leader the Council are going to ask our views as to whether we would prefer to elect a single mayor for Cornwall. Honest, that's what it says.
Whilst I've heard of a Sheriff and a Lord-Lieutenant of a county, a mayor is beyond my experience.
Reference to a modern dictionary was of no help, so I turned to a massive copy of Barclay's Dictionary inscribed by my great-grandfather in 1852. It defined a mayor as the Chief Magistrate of a city, town or corporation.
So perhaps Cornwall is a corporation. Further investigation revealed that a corporation can be both spiritual and temporal, but as to any link to a county there was not a word.
Even a volume of Constitutional Law was no help. Perhaps the answer lies in some new legislation.
Personally I have no objection to Cornwall being at the cutting edge of constitution advance.
A mayor for a county could be quite something. Providing the chosen dignitary does not wear a kilt.
JOHN MORSE
Callington