SIR, — Mud sticks. What could be a better image of the spendthrift incompetence and poor business acumen of the St Albans District Council Cabinet than the gift to a skating rink company of space without any clean-up clause in the contract (Herts Advertis

SIR, - Mud sticks. What could be a better image of the spendthrift incompetence and poor business acumen of the St Albans District Council Cabinet than the gift to a skating rink company of space without any clean-up clause in the contract (Herts Advertiser, April 17)?

And why do we all kow-tow to so-called health-and-safety bureaucracy by allowing the same council to break up the ice on the lake when it does form so that we cannot enjoy the winters when they are like those of my youth here? "Safety last" should be the watchwords. Let's let some risk re-enter the equation.

As for the mud at Westminster Lodge, let lessons be learned and portfolio-holders in such a hole, stop digging!

MICHAEL JAMESON,

Marlborough Gate, St Albans.