Let's keep up the good work!

Any house owner knows the cost of ignoring regular maintenance tasks. And that can be the only explanation Sheffield can offer for finding itself needing such a huge cash windfall to get the job done.

Wisely, the present deal means that regular maintenance of the new street lamps will be funded for the next 20 years meaning, hopefully, we will not slip into this situation again. Or will it? For we are still waiting to hear about an application for 500 million to repair the city's pot-hole-ridden roads. Another case of waiting until the problem is so bad that massive investment is needed to bring it up to standard.

Such quick-fix solutions are an unsustainable way to run a council.

Unruly behaviour starts in classroom

GOOD news on the classroom front where figures show that behaviour appears to be improving. For the number of pupils permanently excluded fell sharply in the last academic year with just 10 pupils involved.

Of course, that is still 10 pupils too many. But the fact remains that the situation represents some hard work which is going on behind the scenes to deal with a very difficult problem.

And it would be wrong to believe this is a problem confined to the classroom. Bad behaviour in school leads to unruly behaviour elsewhere - and we all know who pays the price for that.

Beckham baffler

SO Ted Beckham, father of David, is expected to be discharged from hospital today after his recent heart attack. The bad news is that after undergoing life-saving surgery, the gas fitter struggled to remember his son's name. Not that he's alone there...most of America would probably have trouble identifying him as well!