Some time ago, two clothing recycling containers appeared at the end of my street. Big ugly green things that nobody uses.

To the leader of my local council, on your seven-figure salary:

Do you have these at the end of your road?

Nah, didn’t think so.

D’you want them?

Nah, didn’t think so. Me neither, nor anyone else I know.

There are recycling containers at every large supermarket in the area. Furthermore, thanks to the complete pig’s knickers made of the town centres, the only surviving businesses are pretty much coffee bars and second-hand clothes shops – who are only too happy to recycle.

Two more containers is just virtue signalling at the expense of the council taxpayers.

Meanwhile, some of the nearby streetlights (the ones that still work) have been replaced by new units. These give a brighter, harsher light, altogether unfriendly. Reminiscent of a prison yard. Now, admittedly, in some neighbourhoods, this may make the residents feel more at home, but not, I think, around here.

So, Seven-figure:

Want these streetlights in your road?

Nah, didn’t think so. Me neither, nor anyone else I know.

Your job, in case you forget on the odd days when you turn up for work, is to keep the streets clean, the schools open, the roads in good repair and a few other things.

Pointless woke virtue signalling should not have been in your JD.

On the subject of road repairs, the objective is to reinstate the road surface. That means flush level with the existing surface. Not to cover holes with a damn great lump of tarmac so that instead of wrecking my suspension in a hole, it now gets a battering from going over an impromptu speed hump.

A bit of engineering here, Dumbkin:

This battering is a two-way thing. In the same way that a pothole grows with the shock loading of each vehicle hitting it, the raised patch also gets a shock load from each vehicle, causing weaknesses on a micro scale which will reduce the service life. But you knew that – or you should have.

Also, the idea is for a permanent repair, not one that starts to break up within a couple of years. Now, I realise that this will allow you to award a further contract to your chums for yet another substandard repair in a process that can be repeated ad-villainspain.

Obviously, you don’t live round here. I get that. On your salary, that would be silly. But at least make some kind of effort to do something instead of a string of useless and doomed “initiatives”.