While you might think arranging collection of rubbish should be fairly straightforward, the work carried out by the ambulance service is necessarily far less predictable.

Frontline paramedics do a first-class job serving the public, but there is something clearly wrong with the management of South Central Ambulance service because it cannot be right that some parts of our county face poor response times. SCAS says it is down to a rise in the number of calls, but that cannot be the sole reason.

The fall in service delivery in December varies wildly across the county. SCAS cannot credibly claim there has been a disproportionate rise in calls in West Oxfordshire compared to Oxford, for example. SCAS has recognised there is an issue and is buying more ambulances, but it must also acknowledge that a postcode lottery of service across the area is not acceptable.