Let me tell you of a promising courtship, although it may be premature to talk of marriage.

The partners may not be the most glamorous couple in town and their union would not command a spread in Hello.
But talks are said to be progressing for a closer relationship between the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council.

Ever since its inception a decade ago, the JLC has struggled to dispel perceptions of being a plutocratic cabal which threatened the role of the Board.

Now I understand some kind of merger could be on the cards: according to one source, one option is for a two-chamber body along the lines of the American Senate and House of Representatives.

Given the number of peers and knights in the JLC ranks, the House of Lords would seem a likelier comparison for the council — but then the Lords is subservient to the Commons.