Cheshire to disappear?

After the usual complete news blackout on BBC Online, we are astonished to find a sudden flurry of stories.

Mrs Bin Laden of Northwich is divorcing.

There's been a robbery in Culcheth. (If anyone know where this is, do please tell us - it's clearly one of the smaller villages in our vast county!). This was the second in less than a week as robbers attacked a security guard in Culcheth a week ago.

There have also been two sexual assaults on women - one in Widnes and the other in Warrington.

Stories that are definitely not being covered by Aunty include the looming final decision on the unwanted Glass Slug in Chester - a decision is expected imminently as to whether this project will be cancelled as promised by the new Tory administration.

The other hot story that no one seems to be talking about except in the local papers around Cheshire, is the future of our county itself. The government sometime ago demanded council mergers, the result being that Cheshire could end up with either one unitary council covering the entire county, or two - in which case Cheshire would be split into West and East unitary councils.

However, Cheshire County Council, in a recent paper delivered to homes in the county, suggests that the the government really intends to wipe Cheshire off the map for good. In such a scenario, West Cheshire would be absorbed into Merseyside, creating a new county of Merseyshire, and East Cheshire would be absorbed into Greater Manchester, creating the new county of Manshire. You can read about this outrageous proposal here.

We find it astonishing that no one in the media is showing the slightest bit of interest in this story. This would be a major shake-up of local government that would see a historic county vanish forever, and cities like Chester, which culturally is poles apart from Liverpool, sucked into the morass of Merseyside.

Mind you, if it happens, the BBC will be off the hook and no doubt delighted that they won't have to keep fobbing off 900,000 residents of Cheshire with flimsy excuses as to why they won't provide a BBC Radio Cheshire or even a paltry news page on the website...