THIS week’s column is something of a mélange, with some good news and some bad.

Let’s start with the bad. I’m flabbergasted at how one set of temporary traffic lights can bring so much traffic chaos to Rawtenstall, especially at peak travel times.

That might sound like an over-reaction but it’s indicative of what is wrong with society and public servants these days.

I appreciate Lancashire County Council do their best to co-ordinate these matters with the public utilities companies, who, it would appear, randomly pick sections of road in Rossendale to dig up for weeks on end with a flagrant disregard for how it affects the rest of us.

In the good old days, someone in authority would see the chaos this causes and then do something about it.

A policeman would have turned up on his bike, put his white epaulettes on, turned off the traffic lights at Tup Bridge, and controlled the traffic.

Instead, we end up with temporary lights and the Tup Bridge lights completely out of sequence with each other.

The end result: total gridlock. I bet if someone were to investigate it, the police would say their officers are not trained to control traffic and a risk assessment would have to be carried out.

Why does no-one take ownership these days, rather than leaving the public to stew?

As I repeatedly say at meetings I attend, public servants are here to serve, but you’d be amazed by some of the responses I get!

Now for the good news: this week I saw a copy of the prospectus for Alder Grange’s new Sixth Form College (AG6).

It really is going to be a fantastic place for Valley kids to go to further their education.

I take my hat off to Ian Hulland, David Hampson and their team, who tenaciously fought for the funding in the first place and have since done a fantastic job of project managing the design and construction of the new building.

It’s a shining example of public servants doing the job properly.

Lastly, we can't have a column without a big word, and I must make reference to a posting left on the Lancashire Telegraph’s website by mikebuk of Blackpool in relation to last week’s column.

‘Contrafibularities’ is a great word, but it's not official.

Mike, you and I know where it's from, but do other readers?

Follow my rants on twitter @clivesworld