Purdah' is one of those words that will likely win you a point in a pub quiz.

Speaking, or more correctly writing about pub quizzes - you nit pickers know who exactly you are - there's a great little pub quiz set for the White Lion in Talybont, with first questions around 7pm tonight, Wednesday 29 April, with proceeds going towards making the village green and community spaces in the village better. Landlord Gareth Pritchard is the man to see if you want a table but give him a holler first at 01970 832245 to book a table.

Anyways, I digress. Back to 'purdah'.

The Oxford Dictionary says it's of Hindu origin and comes from the screen that's used to separate men from women in certain Muslin societies and ceremonies.

Interesting that. Given the word's general meaning now in the electoral process, I'm surprised that the right wingers aren't up in arms, citing it as another example of Muslim creep and how British values are being eroded by an invasion of small boats, grooming gangs and kebab shops.

But I digress. Back to 'purdah'.

Those in government and public administration circles will smugly - why is it that they in those circles always appear smug, sound as sincere as a hooker's kiss, and have an attitude that they know better and more than you and I? - smugly tell you that it's the period where political oversight in their work stops in the run-up to an election.

Seems reasonable enough, you might say.

Truth is, as bad as it is that political oversight is suspended, it means that those who are supposed to administer things have free reign.

I was going to say - sorry write, nit pickers stand down - that it's a bit like handing the keys of the asylum to the inmates. That wouldn't be fair to the politicians as they are mostly and equally incapable of running the institution too.

But yes, anyway... purdah.

As much as you might think we in the press let those running and inside the institutions get away with murder, I hate to burst your bubble. We don't.

When a story comes across our desk, we do try and report all sides. Except, of course, during purdah.

It's not as if we don't ask questions of the institutions, it's just that they cite 'purdah' and refuse to comment - lest their words of wisdom or actions - more likely inactions - somehow influence the great unwashed in the performance of their electoral ablutions.

So, let’s say, for example, we are concerned over that great Ceredigion screw-up that is the sea defence project in Aberaeron. We’d like to be able to wipe the snugness off county council officials’ faces by having them answer how much is the extra dredging costing.

Unless you’ve had your head buried under one of those boulders shipped in from Norway, you’ll recall the project was grossly over budget, poorly executed and cuts off egress to boats using the harbour – all because shale has, like most people and non-experts warned that it would.

How much, then?

Purdah.

Don’t get me wrong. I think there’s a need for purdah when it comes to the Senedd election. But citing purdah when it comes to trying to get to basic facts… that’s seems not quite right.

Maybe purdah is cited because it was Plaid Cymru councillors who blindly went along with the council plans and didn’t ask enough questions or have enough oversight - you know, like, do their jobs… But purdah it is for now.

Knowing the capricious nature of the power-hungry CEO that sits in Ceredigion council offices overlooking the shale banks in Aberaeron harbour, I am ever so more sceptical when purdah is cited. Gold Command was his finest hour and its centralisation of authority in his closest cadres still, to a large extent, endures – which is why councillors rarely intervene to do the work they were elected to do.

Why is it that I can’t shake the sneaking suspicion that when purdah is lifted, we will be unpleasantly surprised at what’s been decided away from public scrutiny – not that the Plaid lot on Ceredigion council provide much of that anyway.

Take that bridge at Plasgrug school in Aberystwyth, for instance.

The council has received some 2,000 responses – the great proportion of which are vehemently opposed to its plans to build a new bridge on the school playground.

Funding for a new bridge is included in the active travel funds from the Welsh Government but every fibre in my body is telling me that now, during purdah, that the council plans are being put in place. Out of sight, out of mind.

So, what about that public consultation process? Well, that too is as sincere as a hooker’s kiss.

Purdah, you see, is a year-round event in Aberaeron.