It’s becoming increasingly apparent that Steve Norman, John Langley and all the other political occupants of 44 Richmond Terrace, Avonmouth – the family council home sold last week for £140k to a private bidder – will not be evicted from this house prior to the mayoral election on May 5.

This means the problem will fall firmly in the lap of the new mayor, likely to be Labour’s Marvin Rees. What will he do?

Having condemned the sale of these perfectly adequate homes to private interests, will Marvin execute a typical politician’s u-turn and rubberstamp, regardless, the eviction of a homeless former-serviceman and his 18 month old son badly let down by the council’s homeless service, housing service and social services?

And let’s be clear here. Any eviction will involve the highly visible use of force and thuggery to remove this vulnerable homeless ex-serviceman and his child from the empty home.

Will Marvin resort to force to return Anthony Palmer and his son Kai to a revolting Southville doss house favoured by Nick “Drooper” Hooper’s housing department at a cost to us of £300 a week? Or will Marvin do the decent thing and sort this mess out properly?

This will be a very early test for Marvin. He can rest assured the city will be watching and first impressions are everything aren’t they?