WE should have known it was too good to be true.

Hopes that York’s councillors might pipe down and get things done were put to the test and failed.

Thursday night’s full meeting of City of York Council was the first following an “overhaul” of the structure, which included councillors being instructed to talk less often and for shorter times.

So was it a success? Well, put it this way The Press’s political reporter, Gavin Aitchison, began the meeting clean-shaven, but returned to our Walmgate HQ with a fully-grown beard.

Only two of the five motions up for debate managed to be fitted in, before the meeting ended at 10pm.

We commend the council officials who tried to speed things along.

But the popular adage about relieving oneself into the wind springs wearily to mind.