In his letter in last week's Guardian, on the occasion of his early retirement from council employment, David Corker spoke in glowing terms of some former colleagues who have also chosen to take early retirement.

"Highly experienced and respected," he called them and, by implication, included himself in their number.

A senior officer who very recently joined the ranks of the early retired, the Chief Planning Officer, has also spoken reverently about yet another early retiree, the former Director of Development, praising his vision of Lancaster and Morecambe.

I think that there are three phenomena worth commenting on here.

First is the psychological warfare aspect.

It seems that a certain kind of local government official will lose no opportunity to tell the world how wonderful he and his fellows are.

The fact that they appear to feel the need to do this might be thought to reveal a private lack of confidence in their own calibre.

Whatever the case, I think we should be on the alert lest, like the Taleban, we find ourselves showered with propaganda leaflets, this time extolling officer virtues.

The second point that needs making concerns all this early retirement.

Does no-one retire normally from the council? Or is it only the more junior members? I remember a council report of a couple of years or so ago (signed by a senior officer) which promised that the drain on funds caused by excessive numbers of early retirements on various grounds would be controlled and curtailed.

In the event, it is clear that economies only apply to the rank and file.

Finally, the development vision for Lancaster and Morecambe.

You have only to drive down the Morecambe seafront to see how successful and visionary it has all been.

The promenade drive partially destroyed and turned into parking.

Frontierland, now like the worst parts of London in the Blitz.

Proposals to rebuild the pier sabotaged by the development people (when a consortium suggested rebuilding, council officers sent them a video of storms in Morecambe Bay and then set about the compulsory purchase of the former pier location).

The wonderful opportunity offered by the move of the railway station completely bungled - did you know that Freeport offered to build here rather than Fleetwood but were turned down by the officers on the grounds that Morecambe couldn't accommodate another three million visitors a year? What do we have instead? A market (open a few days a week), a cinema complex, a second rate entertainment complex, two fast food outlets (one already closed) a supermarket and a Blockbuster

video.

None of these particularly suitable to the seafront.

And masses and masses of parking.

Presumably the expert officers, noted for their foresight, expected the public to come to Morecambe to park their cars and then sit in them.

How visionary.

How bad for business.

At least we now know who to blame.

Mike Ford, Silverdale.