Just who runs London? And while we're at it, who runs London's transport system?
In the High Court this week Mr Justice Sullivan, a man who lists in Who's Who a consuming interest in an old railway line near Oxford, is charged with answering that question and putting everyone out of their misery.
At the heart of this legal battle two powerful men are squaring up to each other, even if one is not in court. The battle in question is that between the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and London's mayor, Mr Ken Livingstone, over the future of the London Underground.
There has been little evidence of improvement on the Tube since Mr Livingstone's election as mayor last year. Indeed, the Tube has already seen several one-day strikes this year, 4,000 passengers trapped in 40 degrees heat in tunnels this month, and commuters still struggle home every day on overcrowded and overpriced trains.
However, acknowledging the hurdles, it is his obligation as mayor to devise a strategy for a "safe, integrated, efficient and economic" Tube that Mr Livingstone is determined to deliver. And under Mr Blair's part-privatisation plan for the Tube - known as public-private partnership (PPP) - Mr Livingstone argues he would be unable to do so.
Under PPP, three consortiums would be paid £13 billion sterling, most of which would come from the private sector, to maintain the Tube on 30-year contracts. Train operation would remain in public hands in a scheme only too familiar to critics of the separate management and maintenance systems of Britain's railway since it was privatised.
Mr Livingstone has condemned the government's claim that PPP offered the best value for money, saying the scheme was incompatible with his legal duty to provide an efficient and safe Tube. Mr Livingstone and his US transport commissioner, Mr Bob Kiley, preferred to raise money through a public bonds system, but were overruled by Mr Blair and there was more trouble on the horizon.
Last week, in a long-expected move designed to head off a potentially damaging attack on PPP, Mr Blair stepped in and removed Mr Kiley from his post as chairman of London Transport, the Tube operator and negotiator of private contracts. A month before the election, the government calculated that as one of PPP's chief critics, Mr Kiley was the best person to negotiate with the private companies because this new job would lock him into delivering government policy. But what the government didn't foresee was that a few weeks into the job he would declare talks with the private companies were deadlocked and the government should ditch PPP anyway.
Mr Kiley's criticism of PPP was in line with his role as transport commissioner, but contradicted his position as head of London Transport. And with the mayor and Mr Kiley preparing to launch a judicial review of PPP, Mr Kiley was in effect suing himself.
Mr Kiley also wanted to publish a sensitive report which Tube leaders feared could jeopardise negotiations with private companies. Mr Kiley denied he was being indiscreet by including commercially sensitive information in the report, insisting he wanted to explain the safety problems inherent in running a Tube system with three different groups responsible for maintenance. Something had to give and Kiley was removed.
The Conservatives accused the government of running scared over the Tube, frightened to give power to the mayor.
Mr Blair hit back, telling the outgoing Tory leader, Mr William Hague, last week that he had a responsibility to the taxpayer to scrutinise the running of the Tube. And with up to £2 billion sterling of public money potentially backing up private-sector investment in the Tube he was right, but as Mr Blair probably saw for himself when Mr Livingstone and Mr Kiley strode into the High Court on Tuesday morning, public support is with them.
Mr Livingstone's critics would no doubt like him to have complete control of the Tube so that if it fails, he will carry the can. But if the government's plan for the private sector to play a greater role in public services is to work, PPP and the Tube must be a success. As both sides battle it out, frustrated passengers wait for a decision in hot, overcrowded trains.