JUST as Lancashire County Council finds it cannot afford to keep open 35 old folk's homes, it decides it can afford to back a nannying scheme urging people to lose weight by ditching their cars.

Now, too, do we find that Blackburn with Darwen Council, which couldn't afford to carry on running two of its homes for the elderly that it promised not to shut, can find the money to pay someone to urge people to go on healthy walks.

What sort of priorities are these -- when, ostensibly, these fuss-pot, keep-fit policies aim to keep people living longer while those who have reached old age find their kindly, concerned council is ready to risk killing them by uprooting them from their homes and separating from the carers they know and trust?

They are, of course, the sort of do-gooding projects that obsess the anti-car cranks in local government who believe they know what's best for us. But do they ever ask us if it's what WE want?

This part-time vacancy for a health walks leader that Blackburn with Darwen Council is advertising at a salary scale of up to £15,342 a year is typical of this interfering, self-assured outlook that people need to be led into a healthier lifestyle.

Maybe many people would benefit from doing some exercise, but what business is it of the council? Doesn't local government have much more important functions to fulfil and more urgent demands on its time and our money than preachy projects of this sort -- such as gritting all the roads when it snows, mending the crumbling streets and guaranteeing the total care and security of our old folk?

Yes, I know that the cost of such things is vastly greater than a few odd thousands consumed by these nannying schemes. But is it not the point that if they cannot afford to sustain fully the basic, important services they are expected to provide, they have no business spending any money on such ridiculous schemes as urging people to walk? Especially when the question of whether or not people prefer to sit on their fat, unhealthy backsides, be it in a car or on a couch, ought to have nothing to do with the council anyway -- it's a matter of personal choice, after all.

And only when I see them shut down the reserved car park for councillors and town hall employees, will I think about it.

Besides which, who the hell wants to catch their death 'health' walking anywhere in this darned weather?