HERE’S the vital thing about democracy. You either believe in it or you don’t.

So when five elected leaders of local councils get together you would suppose that, whatever their purpose, democracy would underscore it – would be its bedrock.

But can we say that of the proposed Tees Valley Combined Authority, jointly unveiled by the leaders of the region’s five local authorities – Darlington, Hartlepool, Stockton, Middlesbrough and (the confusingly named) Redcar and Cleveland?

There’s a clue in the sixth, and final, figure at the unveiling – the managing director of Tees Valley Unlimited, described as a “local enterprise partnership.” The holder of that position, whoever that might be at the time, would manage the super new Combined Authority.

Would he, or she, therefore be just a modern equivalent of a town clerk? Almost certainly not. Unelected of course, the manager would be sure to wield considerable power.

The authority itself would take on a huge range of key responsibilities - economic development, transport, infrastructure and skills (whatever they might be). Essentially it would be the overall planning authority.

The promoters stress that local councils would continue to deliver local services. Trouble with the bins? The council can probably resolve it. Alarm at an industrial estate announced for the end of your road? Ah that might be tricky – an infrastructure plan of the Combined Authority.

Apparently sensitive to the charge that the Authority might not be democratic, Coun Bob Cook, leader of Stockton Council, insists it would remain accountable “through the involvement of the five council leaders.” Five elected members to hold to account what would be the dominant authority affecting the lives of the 663,000 citizens of the Tees Valley region. Hopefully they, the citizens, will have something to say about it.

LONG an admirer of Tony Benn for forfeiting his peerage to become an MP, my admiration vanished when, on Benn’s death, I discovered that the law allowing him to do this, campaigned for by Benn, left the title dormant. Now, his eldest son, Stephen, 63, has decided to take it up. As Viscount Stansgate, it is believed he might enter Parliament as a hereditary peer when a vacancy arises. Meanwhile his daughter reportedly hopes to become an MP. Clearly Parliament, a place apart from the real world, has its attractions.

PRIVATE Godfrey - thou shouldst be living at this hour. Ditto your Dad’s Army comrades Fraser, Jones, Mainwaring and Wilson. Over 50s can now sign up as reservists. OK, the Westgate Platoon’s veterans exceed the new limit of 52, but the desperation in raising it from 43 surely means their opportunity can’t be long delayed.

The hike comes because last year the number of reservists rose by a pitiful 20 – hopelessly inadequate to meet cuts of 20,000 in full-time forces.

Meanwhile, David Cameron continues to speak as though we are still in the send-a-gunboat era. His G20 warnings to President Putin were little more than embarrassing, especially with a flotilla of Russian warships off the nearby coast.

THROUGH analysis of internet word searches the Royal Statistical Society has discovered that we now start to think of Christmas in August, three months earlier than we did in 2007. Shame the mere statistics don’t reveal HOW we start thinking of Christmas: with dread.