The good news is the British government has just announced an investment of £100m in the road system.

Unfortunately it's not in the UK but South Africa, the International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell claiming it will boost links between the north and south of the country, in a bid to attract investors.

This comes on top of the announcement that the British taxpayer is to donate £1bn in aid to India, which has already received £103m from the British taxpayer for its health programme.

India has one of the world’s most corrupt governments, with an expensive nuclear and space programme (the space programme alone is funded to the tune of £1.25 bn). Add to this the £2m cost of the referendum to decide if we should change a voting system that has stood us in good stead over 300 years, and you have to wonder how many of the jobs due to be lost in the public sector could have been saved – not to mention libraries, youth clubs, and financial support to the disabled.

If we must have this referendum, why can’t we add two other items to the ballot paper for the vote?

Let us vote on whether we wish to pump millions a day into that other top heavy organisation, the EU, and whether we wish to pump as much into other parts of the world when people in this country face an uncertain future.

It’s also worthy of note that those councils which have so far announced swingeing cuts in personel, seem to have retained their expensive chief executives and their costly minions.

Ken Roper, Morton Avenue, Kidlington