TIM Farron doesn't half know how to curry favour with press corps in this snappiest of snap elections.

Just before 5pm on Tuesday yours truly was offered chance to book breakfast with the Lib Dem leader in a German-run cafe the following morning, so he could "discuss his concerns over Brexit".

Media hacks were told to meet him in the Birmingham greasy spoon at 6.15am on Wednesday, leading to the region's media opting for muesli at home instead.

* LAST month we told you about Worcestershire County Council's leader Simon Geraghty suffering an acute bout of election-balls by claiming the (prospective) £70 million Carrington Bridge dualling is definitely going ahead, but if you read closely enough you'll see it's catching on.

In Robin Walker's election address for Worcester News readers, he declared: "Having secured investment in the southern link, I will finish the job of dualling the Carrington bridge to reduce Worcester traffic."

Blimey. So not only has he already got the £70 million, he's even got the shovel.

* TALKING about fake news, ex-County Hall leader Adrian Hardman knows a thing or two about dodgy sources.

The veteran Tory used his Twitter account to re-tweet an erroneous image of Jeremy Corbyn supposedly with the IRA, but the bearded chap in the grainy back and white image is in fact former Irish commander Patrick Kelly.

* WORCESTER'S Tory group chief Cllr Marc Bayliss has a new tactic for trying to tackle Labour - lobbying for a state-sponsored media silence.

In his most absurd request yet, the excitable politician has suggested this newspaper stops reporting Labour-led motions at County Hall if he personally deems the opposition party's debate to be lacking in news value - like another bid to remove asbestos from schools (this is not a joke).

It's spelt T-R-A-N-S-P-A-R-E-N-C-Y. Or does he want to edit the newspaper as well?

* MORE than a few political leaders have mentioned Theresa May's frequent visits to the West Midlands over the last month, but she wasn't alone.

During the election campaign both Robin Walker and Mark Garnier spent time away from Worcester and the Wyre Forest to help Tory candidates in Birmingham - something that would have been considered unthinkable, for many reasons, only a few years ago.