..." Where I live 77 per cent of our council tax goes to the county council. Yet, my roads aren’t gritted. The roads are like a moon landscape as we battle to put into the economy in towns and villages that are no longer lit at night. The roadworks are long and arduous and poorly managed. I can’t remember when I last saw a workman or woman doing more than sitting in a van eating a ham sandwich and checking their phones, as the traffic light layouts are designed, seemingly, by Stevie Wonder.

So yes, our lives are hard enough, and we have days which are little more than sh*tshows, but really, do they have to exacerbate it by not doing the job we pay them so handsomely for, with little comeback or accountability….? "

Brett Ellis