There are also plans for directly elected mayors in 12 English cities, with council leaders to become "shadow mayors".

BBC: Localism Bill part two

Deputy mayors Patricia Harris and Robert Steel, Council of Fashion Designers of America President Diane von Furstenberg, IMG head Ted Forstmann and Lincoln Center chair Katherine Farley also joined Bloomberg as he spent the next 20 minutes extolling the virtues of New York as a fashion base.

FORBES: Bloomberg Declares New York City the Capital of Fashion

Alongside ceremonial mayors and various types of county or city council, Englishmen are already blessed (or cursed) with a profusion of centrally funded bodies such as Regional Development Agencies, Regional Assemblies, various Government Offices (of the North West and South East, for example) and more, almost all of them unelected.

ECONOMIST: City government