That’s got to be an average of at least 10 days a year, probably more, on top of their holidays – six weeks in most cases.

But according to Roger Kaye, head of Human Resources and Performance – who invents these grandiose titles? – we mustn’t worry because overall the trend for council workers is down by just over one day a year.

Give the man a medal, or an extra day off.

When I was a young reporter, more than half a century ago, the overblown Street Scene Services Department was called Sanitary Inspector, and any one of his workers who sloped off for four or five days of sickies in a year was told to leave his brush behind when he went to collect his cards.

Hence, no need for a head of Human Resources and Performance.

When was such a role invented?

Why?

And how much does the department put on the council tax?

I could go on and for a small fee, or a reduction in my council tax, prune the council of its overblown staff and its overpaid senior executives.

But I mustn’t worry my ancient head about such matters as keeping down costs to avoid a rise in council tax, because on another page of a recent Gazette there is a report that the county council’s debt will grow from £300m to £450m in three years’ time.

Peanuts, they seem to say, because it costs only £32m a year to service.

And brazenly add they can never envisage a time when the debt will be repaid.

So they saddle the young and our grandchildren with an ever-growing debt which at some stage will become insupportable.

They can hear the roar of the waterfall and the inevitable plunge into the abyss of debt but hope it won’t happen until they have retired on an inflation-proof pension.

Just like Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, the latter leaving that bundle of Scottish fun to carry the can, perhaps justifiably so because he wrecked our world class pension schemes and sold the nation’s gold when it was at an all time low.

But that’s what he no doubt, calls “good Scottish prudence”.

Perhaps it’s time we adopted the American method of local government.

Education, highways and similar services, are regulated by the state but every three years or so when the mayor comes up for re-election he is judged on the performance of other local authority services, most of them contracted out by him to private companies.

A good record and he is re-elected, otherwise he’s out but not for long, only until he is headhunted by one of our local authorities to teach them how to waste more money.

Jack Clarke, Egton Bridge