JAMES Young ( Letters, January 31 ) comments that the endless cycle of money being wasted rather than kept for the following budget year is idiotic and short-term thinking at its worst.

He notes that his suggestion that we pay our council tax retrospectively would require a whole year being skipped and wonders if a reader might have a suggestion how to run things better. I propose a pilot study and am happy to volunteer to take part in it.

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.