AMAZING, is it not, that the call for a crackdown by Burnley councillor Peter Doyle over town hall staff who "play the sickness system" when it was revealed that 30 are absent every day was slammed by council leader Stuart Caddy who said such matters should not be discussed in public.

Why not, for heaven's sake -- when it's the public paying for it? And when, according to Coun Doyle, this level of absenteeism goes on year after year?

If, as was said at a council meeting, it is a matter for council officials rather than elected members, does not his suggestion that it has been going on for years indicate that a more aggressive approacch is needed?

Perhaps, a comparison of Burnley Council employees' levels of seemingly endemic sickness with the private sector would establish whether a job at the town hall entails more time off. Surely, the employees and their managers whom Coun Caddy seems to think are maligned by Coun Doyle's claims would not mind such scrutiny. Certainly taxpayers are entitled to it.