Over recent weeks there have been two very good columns from John Craig about spin, bureaucracy and the NHS.

Having read the columns I totally agree with his views but let’s take it further. We have 800-plus non-jobs in the NHS at the expense of real medical staff. How many other non-jobs are there within the whole of the Government and local authority system?

We have spin doctors by the hundred and quangos by the thousands, along with many permanent managers and elected councillors who should actually be doing the jobs.

David Cameron was going to do away with quangos but alas this has not happened, so it makes you think who is actually running the country?

As for local councils, the same question can be applied. We have had cuts to services because of financial constraints yet we still see many things being done that are not a necessity during this austere time. For example, we have had two school-type crossings put into Queens Crescent and signs and white lining done, yet for 45 years the footpaths have seen no maintenance and are now dangerous.

I can only conclude that political aspirations are more important to a council “where everybody matters”.

In a recent edition of the Gazette the organisers of the folk festival were told by the council to make sure that they cleaned up properly after the event.

Perhaps our councils should practise what they preach. The latest grass cuttings have been left scattered about and now blow around in the wind.

Tony Fellenor, Farleigh Close, Chippenham.