THERE’S a world of difference away from your own doorsteps.

Going on holiday opens our eyes to all kinds of ideas and new ways of doing things.

How, for example, do some countries keep their streets and parks so clean and others with third world economies manage to deal superbly with calamitous weather events while we come to a standstill because of wet leaves and every winter’s first snowfall? Perhaps it’s something to do with the poor and unimaginative standards set by our local politicians and officials.

American voters are eager with anticipation after taking what history will record as one of the boldest steps in their country’s history.

But here in East Lancashire there’s precious little sign of “change you can believe in” even though there’s a massive need for it.

Just look at three local news stories that greeted me on return from foreign parts this week.

First we have the Blackburn resident in court because officials refused to believe him when he said that three bags of his rubbish which were found in the street must have got there because his wheelie bin had been knocked or tipped over after he went to work.

Because he refused to accept a £60 fixed penalty Gary Rostron was charged with “incorrectly placing rubbish bags beside his rubbish collecting receptacle.”

Magistrates threw out the case, which must have cost a fortune in public money to bring to court.

But the decision to prosecute was defended by a leading councillor on the grounds that “no one would be convicted of anything” if cases were dropped “when people said they were innocent.”

Factually correct perhaps but legal decisions also demand the application of common sense – something clearly bypassed in this instance.

On the same day we read that the zeal of the litter Gestapo isn’t apparently reflected when it comes to those who are on average assaulting a health worker in East Lancashire every day.

The number of attacks in some health trusts, on those who work so hard to help the sick and injured, has gone up by 54 per cent in a year and yet a union official says the number of actual prosecutions against offenders is “pitifully low.”

Unison wants to see prosecutions double and tough penalties on conviction.

How anyone could disagree with that? Our local politicians and officials should retrain the rubbish rottweilers so they can refocus their energy on something more relevant.

And finally there are the Lancashire County councillors who seriously think it’s a good idea to save £60,000 by turning off the lights on motorways at night.

We hardly needed to read the strongly-worded comments of police and motoring organisation against this idea.

My granddaughter would have immediately questioned the logic, and spotted the elephant-trap sized flaw, in this hare-brained scheme. And she has only just begun attending place school.

There really is no place like home!