With the forthcoming council elections, I wonder if we will see any door-to-door canvassing as used to occur. I very much doubt it.

If there were to be such a thing, electors might consider asking a couple of questions, such as, with the shortfall of some £200,000 that we were told about, how is it that a no doubt vast sum could be spent on renovating Goose Green (entirely unnecessary) – taking up paving on George Street, and putting down cobblestones (entirely unnecessary) and digging up Stamford New Road, and putting in more cobblestones (entirely unnecessary).

No doubt the companies that provided the labour and the cobblestones would disagree and if we had had large surpluses of money, so would I, but we hadn't.

It will no doubt be offered as an excuse that this was a different pot of money but it is never difficult in financial circles to empty one pot and fill another.

There is also the question of how the council leader and, I presume, his entourage could be sent to Beijing?

Perhaps I do them an injustice: maybe they drove overland at their own expense, took their own food and stayed in their own tents and the whole operation cost the Trafford ratepayers nothing.

As councils are expecting volunteers to do work to cut costs perhaps we will have to get some buckets of hot tarmac and fill the potholes in the side roads around Altrincham.

It was once said that in South Yorkshire you could put a Monkey in a Red Jacket and it would get voted in as a Labour MP.

For South Yorkshire, read Trafford, add Blue Jacket, and for MP, read councillor.

David Olliver