YOU know, I rather like the idea of a Big Society!

It might just help folk to understand the situations they find themselves in are mainly their own responsibility and not that of someone else.

Strange, but there are people who think the state is an imaginary place, where vast amounts of money are just waiting for them to collect.

They don’t seem to understand that all the benefits and claims for money are paid for by the taxes deducted from the wages of working people.

Then there’s this talk about the care of older folk in hospitals and that they are not being looked after properly.

Now there is no excuse for bad nursing, but surely if your mum is in hospital, wouldn’t you go, make sure she was OK and not being neglected?

It’s up to us to look after our own.

I think it’s U-turn time, because over the last few decades we seem to have lost the plot and are in danger of becoming a badly dressed, ill mannered, foul mouthed, uncaring and rather immoral lot.

There’s bad language and violence on television, we’ve a fashion industry endeavouring to make young girls look like hookers, songs full of innuendo and gangs making our cities scary.

But hold it, hang on! There is good news, for I detect a sea change.

Our young people are taking a nostalgic look back to the sixties, both in fashion, ideas and, hopefully, manners.

Wouldn’t it be great to think that we have reached the end of the downward trend and that hope, courtesy, romance and consideration of others is back on the agenda.

So, yes. Bring on the Big Society.

This planned ring road for Blackburn is going to cost a huge amount of money.

But why?

The roads are fine as they are and they do say ‘if it isn’t broke, why fix it?’ So, let’s save the cash, keep our services and look after those in need.

They say you should write stuff down if you want to remember it and I do.

The only trouble is I then spend all my time looking for the paper I wrote it down on!