I sn't it funny how everything changes but really actually stays the same? I don't know how authentic it is, but I recall in the film Oliver Cromwell that the politicians had voted themselves rises, various rights and parcels of land etc.

When Cromwell (played by Richard Harris) challenged them on this, Lord Manchester (played by Robert Morley) stated that there was no point being a Member of Parliament if you couldn't make money from it.

Cromwell instantly dissolved Parliament and told them all to shove off if that was their attitude.

Can we do that now I wonder? I doubt it. The status quo is ingrained and immovable. I reckon that even if nobody ever came out to vote for them again our politicians would still be sitting there because being in Parliament becomes a habit.

I must admit I don't like these extra layers of Government. We have Westminster, the Scottish Assembly and the Welsh Assembly. Not sure about the Scottish Assembly, but I do know that in Wales they kept having a referendum until they got the right result. Voters, having been worn down by it all, turnout for the vote was less than 50 per cent and only 25 per cent of that actually voted to have a Welsh Assembly. The other 75 per cent were cheesed off with it all.

Back in the dismal days of the Seventies when Labour was in power, they created something called Avon. Bristol had the temerity to sit astride two counties, namely Somerset and Gloucestershire and held its own county as well as city status the result of a 600-year-old charter. Avon meant nothing to the populace except with reference to the river running through it. To the politicians it meant something else, more of a gravy train than a river. Extra jobs for pen pushers and councillors were created. Bristol City Council remained holding on to some of its responsibilities and other items were farmed out to the new Avon County Council. Because there were now two levels of administration, two lots of councillors and two huge headquarters were needed instead of just one.

Avon was created in 1974. Bath was included in this county plus a slice of Gloucestershire and a slice of Somerset. It even had its own heraldic device. Blue and white waves represented the River Avon. Obviously the designer of the coat of arms hadn't ventured much further than Bradford on Avon to view the river – if he or she had seen it at all. It certainly isn't blue when you get to Bristol; more burnt umber with hints of toxic waste and glutinous sediment .

Avon was abolished in 1996. It seems that at long last somebody had noticed that it was costing the taxpayer twice as much as it should do. Added to that, it wasn't terribly popular with the voters – you know them – those people who pay for the result of political ideology. The fact that the voters of Bath and Bristol never wanted this hybrid was never taken into account – mostly because they weren't consulted in the first place.

The thing about getting older is that you've seen so many things before. Nothing is really that new. It's a bit like fashion; once something's been out of fashion a long time it gets regurgitated. Scandal can resurface just as surely as a flapper dress or platform shoes. We were there when something similar occurred years ago. We were there when county lines were altered and experiments were carried out meant to enhance – something – I'm not sure what unless it was the salary bill of local government.

We know better than you. Poll Tax, Hips – it's an ongoing list. Everything changes but mostly stays the same. Come back Oliver Cromwell, all is forgiven.