THERE was much hilarity on Dodworth Road last week when a sign went up to inform people of the town’s parking spaces… but it was facing the wrong way.

You could only see the info when you were leaving town. I imagine the contractors, who can’t be local (to earth) thought that because the sign was on the left side of the road, that’s why it would be facing the way it initially was. So… Why is the sign so far from the town centre? And I wasn’t alone in wondering where ‘The Seam’ was.

Courthouse station in case you didn’t know. Why ‘The Seam’? To do with coal seams. But I thought we were trying to move away from mining.

One minute the council are telling us that there is more to Barnsley than mining and then they go and rename a car park after a coal seam. Anyway – did we really need this sign on the wrong side of the road giving info about car parking spaces that is so far away from them it can’t be accurate?

The budget. Dear god. If it wasn’t a big enough joke that the people with one job – the Office for Budget Responsibility – leaked the details of it before it was broadcast, what came out of Rachel Reeves’ mouth only extended the fun.

My friends in government say the woman is incapable of making a decision, so don’t be fooled by a persona that suggests strength. ‘No, we won’t be back for more, there’s a surplus,’ she said last year.

Suddenly there’s a black hole that justifies a U-turn. Counter her and she switches into a robotic: ‘We have lifted 450,000 children out of child poverty’ mode, sticks fingers in ears and self-congratulates.

No bad thing, of course, but not so sure it will work for reasons that would exceed my word count.

This was a budget to kowtow to voters getting sweeties to bribe them to keep Labour in at the next election.

Pensions going up – but now you’re liable for tax on yer money. In a couple of years, one in four of us will be in the higher tax bracket because of the frozen tax threshold.

And WTF – she’s messed around with what you can invest in an ISA because she wants young people to put their money in stocks and shares? EH? It’s so high up on the list of what they want to do that isn’t it? Stick the little money they have in precarious investments.

Most of us don’t mind paying into the benefit system which should – SHOULD – be there to help people back on their feet.

But too many are seeing it as a lifestyle choice so no wonder there is resentment. Don’t have six kids, love, if you can’t afford to clothe and feed them yourself. Then again, £65,000 a year tax-free, why wouldn’t you churn them out. And plenty will now. This budget will see some with less at the bottom of their wage note than those on benefits bearing the load. Labour should change its name, because it no longer has the working people at its heart.

Once again we are in prime post season and once again the Post Office cuts are meaning that some letters are taking a fortnight to get to people which is great if you’re expecting birthday cards and hospital appointments.

But your parcels will be okay, because that’s where the money is so the workers are supposed to concentrate on those. Not happy? Write to your MP, that’s what the unions are saying. And try not to laugh when the fat cats at the top are awarded their massive Christmas bonuses. Have a good week, folks. Don’t have nightmares...

I have a jolly Christmas afternoon tea at the Priory Campus on Wednesday December 19 at 12.30pm. It’s only £21 and ticket sales close in a few days. Book via the centre or my website events page at millyjohnson.co.uk.