Well, Stop Them Defining ‘Vital Services’ For Themselves, Then…

Dozens of local authorities are on the brink of financial collapse but ministers have failed to come up with adequate contingency plans to prop up vital services, according to a committee of MPs.

Oh, really? ‘Vital services’, eh..?

Hodge warned that some councils may have no option but to cut services as a result of tight finances.

"Local authorities are tending to cope with funding reductions. But in the long term there might well be little room for further efficiency gains and services would have to be cut. There needs to be frank and open dialogue between central and local government and the public on just what services councils will be expected to provide in a prolonged period of declining funding."

Well, I’ll tell you what I consider to be 'services councils should provide', and I’ll certainly tell you a service that they shouldn’t provide.

Feeding other people’s kids for ‘free’:

Free healthy breakfasts could soon be on the menu at all primary schools in Hull, the Mail can reveal today. The move is part of a fresh drive to improve the health of children in the city, as figures confirm rising obesity rates.

Let’s get this straight – feeding children is the responsibility of their parents. It’s not the responsibility of the school, or the council, or anyone else.

The board, which is a partnership between the council and public health experts, is expected to approve a number of new initiatives costing about £200,000 at a meeting later this month.

There’s £200,000 that can be saved immediately, then, and put to work on repairing potholes, ensuring that refuse is collected and fly-tippers prosecuted and that local parks are maintained. All services the council should be providing…

Cllr Inglis said: "What I have been trying to do is focus the board's activities on younger age groups.

"This really has the same principles behind the free school meals initiative – catch them early, get them into good habits and we all reap the benefits in 20 or 30 years' time.

"For me it's almost a no-brainer."

It certainly takes a no-brainer to come up with it, though perhaps not in the way you meant!

Blackpool council leader Simon Blackburn said as well the nutritional and educational benefits, the scheme was designed to tackle poverty.

"This is not about helping kids whose parents are on benefits, it's about people earning £12,000-a-year and struggling to make ends meet."

Perhaps you should ask yourself why people earning that amount might struggle? Could it be because they are paying too much in tax that then goes to feed other people’s children?