The stand of Mrs Elizabeth Winkfield on the council tax is something we should all support.

Not because the woman in question is 83 years old but because it is high time that councils in England and Wales realised that they have to become as competitive as private industry to survive.

The difference is that private business has to swim or sink on its acumen whereas councils perceive that they have a captive audience of people who will have to pay, no matter what.

Indeed, local councils and health bodies squander vast unseen public sums every day, as there is very little true accountability. I know this for a fact as I have worked in that area and seen at first hand the absurd things these bodies fritter the taxpayer's money on.

Therefore Mrs Winkfield's stand should be viewed as the start of a new era in which councils will have to become as competitive as their counter-parts in the private sector.

Indeed, if we do not support her we shall have allowed the councils to just go on in the same old merry way, running roughshod over us as they wish and taking full advantage of the fact that they are protected by Government legislation.

Dr David Hill, World Innovation Foundation.