Members of the Birmingham Licensing Committee, having shown their competence by approving a communications exam for taxi drivers based on school tests for five-year-olds, have latched on to an altogether more difficult subject.
It appears that many Birmingham massage parlours are not exactly what they seem.
No, really. Behind the net curtains of solidly-built houses in the suburbs lie dens of iniquity where anyone expecting a gentle rub-down to cure a nagging sports injury would certainly be in for a surprise.
"These places are a front for prostitution," thundered Tory councillor Nigel Dawkins, who was recently chosen to be the prospective Conservative candidate for Selly Oak at the next General Election.
Action must be taken to stop this, certainly. But what to do?
The problem is that the police just aren't interested. Not interested in closing the brothels that is. The only way the council can get the boys in blue to step in is if "people trafficking" can be proven, according to Dawkins.
The licensing committee does actually have the powers to close massage parlours if premises are being "improperly conducted". The question is: what is improper conduct?
Well, now you're asking. I sense sex industry lawyers rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of locking horns with Birmingham City Council.
The council's best legal brains are working on the case. "The meaning of improperly conducted is not defined in the Act but it is submitted that a premises operating for the purposes of prostitution could reasonably be regarded as being improperly conducted," according to m'learned friend.
You don't say?
Pete Barrow, the ever optimistic head of licensing at the council, commented: "We are going to bring forward a new set of conditions that, hopefully, the police and our licensing officers will be able to enforce. The meaning of improper conduct will be there and brothels will no longer be licensed."
It seems unlikely, however, that anything much will happen without police support. Will it be forthcoming? We shall just have to wait and see.
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The skies are leaden, rain is lashing down and June is turning out to be anything other than blazing.
Perfect timing, therefore, for construction of Birmingham City Council's beach in Chamberlain Square.
Workmen have moved in to dump tonnes of sand on the controversial site next to the Town Hall. My man with the concession to sell kiss-me-quick hats and candy floss is already admiring the artificial palm trees. Very tasteful.
But these will be like no other trees you have seen, for they contain devices to spray cooling fine mist on the sun worshippers sitting beneath the shady branches.
No, look, I promise I am not making this up.
The beach will become a major tourist attraction in its own right, rivalling Paris and Berlin. We have council leader Mike Whitby's word on that.
Meanwhile, Whitby's people are being very sniffy about the rival sand pit at the Bullring.
"It's more like a postage stamp than a beach," said the man in the Hawaiian shirt and braces not a million miles away from Whitby's office.