YOU know when something isn’t right, when it just doesn’t fit.

You feel it in your water, it buzzes around in your head and the feeling just won’t go away.

Social psychologists have a phrase for it – cognitive dissonance – and probably the most common example is buyer’s remorse.

That fount of all wisdom, Wikipedia, tells us buyer’s remorse is frequently associated with fear of making the wrong choice, guilt over extravagance, or a suspicion of having been overly influenced by the seller.

It comes particularly when you have to make a difficult decision between two similarly appealing alternatives.

And that’s what I feel about Middlewich – cognitive dissonance and remorse that just won’t leave me alone. Middlewich is an extravagance and the wrong alternative was chosen Let me explain. Back in the good old days, I could just about come to terms with the fact Middlewich was in Congleton Borough and not Vale Royal.

I understand local government authorities need a ‘critical mass’ of ratepayers to make them viable. Quite simply, they need the money.

But along came the bright sparks who decided it was time to tinker and lo and behold, all our borough councils were swept away on the whim of a Whitehall mandarin and our new, unitary councils were created.

At least some good can come of this brave new world, I thought. Middlewich can now be returned to its spiritual home of mid Cheshire, along with its cousins, Northwich and Winsford.

It seemed perfectly logical to me that the boundary between Cheshire East and the extravagantly name Cheshire West and Chester Councils would follow some kind of sensible line.

But how wrong can one man be? They had the chance to put things right and blew it.

Just look at the map, for heaven’s sake. There’s a big bulge in the boundary line and Middlewich is in its own Cheshire East enclave, like an interloper staking a claim for territory, planting its wind-blown, corn sheaf banner in a place it just does not belong.

Middlewich is in the wrong borough council. It does not belong with the likes of Crewe, Macclesfield and Congleton. It’s got nothing in common with them.

It needs reuniting with its history and heritage (its salt heritage, not all that Roman nonsense) and when the powers that be realise this, perhaps they will take pity, put Middlewich back where it belongs and put an end to my cognitive dissonance.

Is it time to take a stand? Should we fight for our rights?

I’m thinking about starting a Bring Back Middlewich campaign. Who’s with me?