Having read the opinion of columnist Ed Deedigan (Wiltshire Times, June 16), I feel that I must take him to task. A lot of what he said is true, however he needs to look at how things have happened and give a more balanced opinion.
The reason that the present Government are cutting back on providing money to councils is because the last Labour Government left the country so deep in debt it is going to take the country a long time to become solvent again.
As for austerity, I believe that this is self-inflicted and is caused by the rapid advance of technology. You can see every day children being driven to school with their laptops and mobile phones in backpacks with top-of-the-range trainers on their feet.
No one today, unless they lived in a major city in England during the Second World War, has any idea of what real austerity is. I am 80 years old this year and I grew up in London during the war so I know exactly what austerity is and it is certainly not what it is made out to be today. I was brought up to believe that you should live within your means; if you can’t afford it, you go without until you can. 
Today it is all ‘me, me, me’ and I must have it today, providing someone else pays for it.
Richard M Hayes
Paxcroft Way
Trowbridge