When the Government has a rest from making up lies to conceal the fact that they are making a swift u-turn on just about everything they promised in their manifesto, then I may have a useful suggestion that could keep a few of them in gainful and worthwhile employment for a while.

As I have mentioned before in this column, I have spent most of my life residing in rural locations.

This means that I spend a fair bit of time driving for at least part of my journey to and from work on quiet country lanes and very often through some of Oxfordshire’s prettiest villages.

And herein lies the problem; the streets are full of cars!

A single family with teenage children may own anything up to four vehicles.

Even people that own driveways seem reluctant to park their cars on them, preferring the easy option of blocking the street.

Well, this is where the Government should step in, by making a law and providing grants for people to convert all or part of the front area of their properties into parking spots.

I know that the Village Green Preservation Society will be choking on their G ’n’ Ts right now at the very thought of converting their pretty cottage gardens, but even in the countryside we have to move with the times occasionally.

Just think how much safer the roads would be for children and elderly folk to cross.

Vehicles would be able to travel in both directions at once without causing rural gridlock, and there would be ample room for cyclists and ramblers to keep out of my way.

And perhaps the boys in grey could stop handing out planning permission to knock down or convert garages into anything other than somewhere to store or work on a car.

I speak from bitter personal experience here, as someone who spent a couple of hours on my drive early one morning during the big freeze trying to replace the fanbelt on my car.

It was 5am and very cold, with the added discomfort of freezing rain dripping from the bonnet and down the back of my neck.

It was when I went indoors to warm my hands and spirits with a mug of tea that I realised with some disappointment that the large and well-fitted kitchen of my current residence was probably once a spacious garage.

Oh the irony...