As Labour cruised to victory in this month's local elections, you could have been forgiven for thinking this was a new party seizing control of Liverpool City Council.
Labour is certainly under new management and there is a fair amount of optimism that the council's new leader - Liam Robinson - has the right qualities to move things forward from the dark and desperate recent years of scandal and mismanagement.
But this is not a new party, and this is not a new council. While there have been some important personnel changes since the publication of the utterly damning Max Caller government inspection report in 2021, there was a stark reminder this week that this council's problems run deep - and that there is still a long way to go to turn things around.
