This photograph of West Midlands council leaders meeting Government ministers this week to thrash out details of the new combined authority and devolution deal says everything you need to know about local government.
Some have commented on the fact it was an all male affair, mostly white middle-aged males at that (Coventry leader Ann Lucas was otherwise engaged). For a young and diverse urban area it really does not send the right message.
That aside, we have taking the central position and all looking to him to take the lead. For all the talk of devolution, it is Mr Osborne who by far the most important and influential person in local government in this country.
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There are the seven (eight including Lichfield) council leaders surrounding him, none taking the lead. They are all having their say on the new combined authority - trying to get them to agree anything must be like herding cats.
In practice what this means is that while the Government is making an unprecedented devolution offer to the West Midlands - much of this will be rejected because there are fundamental areas of disagreement, such as over elected mayors and the name of this new body. Greater Birmingham, the most internationally marketable title is unpalatable to many.
So we have a .
It has taken long enough for the various leaders and their groups to agree this minimal package.
Rather than embrace new powers from London, they seem more worried about ceding responsibility to this new West Midlands wide body.
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Greater Manchester, which to a large extent put aside local rivalries, has therefore got a £1 billion devolution package plus control of the region’s £6 billion health and social care budget.
Remember the reason we want devolution is because Birmingham and the West Midlands has been held back by centralisation - waiting years for bureaucrats in London to approve vital infrastructure schemes like the New Street Station rebuild or Midlands Metro extensions.
But while everything has to await the sign off from at least seven different council leaders, each with half and eye on their own backbenchers, the West Midlands authority too will be crippled by this indecision.
And having overseen this meeting, and dozens more like them, George Osborne has arrived at the same conclusion. That is why he wants them to agree to a region wide elected mayor - we need one person, with a high public profile, to have the final say and to ‘carry the can’ when things go wrong.
He is not prepared to lavish large scale devolution on a committee.
“The mayor model works best,” he argued. He is right.
Don’t our local politicians trust the people to pick a mayor with clout, ability and the profile to deliver for the region?
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At the moment we have seven council leaders who have achieved their status by playing internal party and town hall politics well. They have won the backing of a local party’s branch and gained a safe seat. A seat in a place like Sir Albert Bore’s Ladywood ward which would probably elect a stuffed bear if it had a Labour rosette. A seat from which it is almost impossible to dislodge them.
Then they have built a following of a few dozen people in their own party group to get themselves selected as leader and then at the right time in the electoral cycle assumed control of their council.
This is not a judgement on our current crop of council leaders - I know one very well and have a passing acquaintance with others. I am sure they are able council leaders.
But these people are largely anonymous to the world outside the local political bubble. Perhaps that is how they like it. But they are easily dominated by Government officials and ministers in a way that an elected mayor would not be.
They also never have to face a major public vote as a region wide elected mayor would, perhaps that is why they are so suspicious of them.
Greater Birmingham is the only option
The name is the other thorny issue which has been hit into the long grass by the West Midlands leaders committee.
Of course would be the sensible choice. It is the only name with resonance internationally. Investors in China or India have little idea where the West Midlands is.
The title West Midlands is also confusing, as European constituency it covers an area from Worcester to Stoke-on-Trent and from Rugby to Shrewsbury. But the police force only covers the narrow seven metropolitan areas.
It is also a name entirely constructed on its geographical relationship to other places in England.
Any name which includes Birmingham, Black Country, Solihull and Coventry would not only look like it was made by a committee, but would be so unwieldy that it would quickly be shortened anyway and BBCSC or any combination thereof does not trip off the tongue.
This opposition to ‘Greater Birmingham’ is borne out of fear in the Black Country and Solihull and other areas that their distinctive identity would somehow be swallowed by their big Brummie neighbour.
The evidence is against this - The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield retains its distinct historic identity despite having been a small part of the Birmingham City Council area for more than 40 years.