IT will come as no surprise to anybody that Swindon Council is within an inch of having direct intervention imposed on it by the Government.

There has been an appalling saga of blunders, mismanagement and political in-fighting by the people in the corridors of power at the Civic Offices. They must jump to attention and do as the Audit Commission's interim report says while there is still time to start the process of turning things around.

But we should not lose sight of the fact that Whitehall policies are partly to blame for the mess in which the council now finds itself. Successive governments have consistently under-funded this borough and it is pointless to compare Swindon with Wiltshire which, in spite of being cash-strapped, has had a better report.

The town is not like the county. It has its own unique circumstances and a different set of problems.

The people of this town want and expect its councillors and council officers to get their act together. The time for carping at each other is past.

We do not want Government interference in our affairs.

THERE are no excuses for 21-year-old Christopher Wood, who inflicted a serious facial injury on his girlfriend Kim Taylor while in a drunken rage.

As a result of his apparent inability to control his temper, Miss Taylor now has a metal plate in her jaw. She will never forget the incident.

Wood, however, has been given a deferred sentence and chance to mend his ways.

He might have had clearer thoughts about the results of his behaviour if he had been sitting in a prison cell.