IT is not unknown for the powers that be to shirk difficult decisions.

In the past, too many have decided to avoid ruffling feathers and let the status quo remain.

But last week, the city council was faced with a couple of decisions which would have caused most politicians to have sleepless nights.

The issue at hand was whether or not to close centres for people with learning disabilities and older people from ethnic communities.

Most elected representatives would run a mile rather than take on such controversial issues.

After all, there was no chance they would win universal approval for shutting down services for two vulnerable sections of society.

Whatever decision they made they were in line for a backlash from angry service users and their families.

But Glasgow councillors are made of stern stuff.

Labour's new social work spokesman is the talented Malcolm Cunning who had the unenviable task of putting forward the case for closure to the council's powerful executive committee.

But Mr Cunning had done his homework and presented an unanswerable case for shutting two day centres for people with learning disabilities and three services for older people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

He pointed out people with learning disabilities have voted with their feet and are no longer using council run day centres in the numbers they did in the past.

New legislation means they are now allocated a financial package which they can use to buy the services they want from whoever they want.

And hundreds have opted to give up the day centre and instead are spending their money in a wide range of other ways, including taking up sport, art or drama and going to the movies.

And who can blame them.

The issue with the services provided for the older black and minority ethic community was that they are allowed to attend council day centres from the age of 55 when everyone else in the city has to wait a further decade for that privilege.

Mr Cunning pointed out that at a time when money is tight, the council has to use cash provided by city residents through their council tax to fund services for those who need it most.

And he suggested the local authority should have the same rules for all older people in the city regardless of their background.

Try as you might, it is not easy to argue against his point.

This year the council will yet again have to cut millions of pounds from its budget because of the cash it has been allocated by the Scottish Government.