We all like a bargain, particularly in tough financial times, unless you happen to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth like Messrs. Cameron or Clegg, writes our grumpy old man Bill McCarthy.

Most of use secretly sneak into the pound shops, or cheap clothing stores while turning a blind eye as to why those goods are so cheap.

But we really do scrape the barrel with low-cost air carriers.

Lured into the market by ridiculously cheap headline prices, that rapidly rise when the first couple are sold, you are then charged eye-watering amounts for luggage and you would then need to take out another mortgage if you are stupid enough to buy food and drink on the flight.

Add to this the cattle-truck mentality of no seat allocation and you have a recipe for human being behaving like wild animals.

You see it at the airport. As the flight time approaches, people edge closer to the boarding gates. Then when boarding is announced, it is like someone has shot a cannon in front of a herd of elephants and the stampede begins.

Old, young and frail are trampled underfoot if they attempt to be get in the way. While the fittest, sorry fattest, usually lagered-up stag and hen parties join battle to grab the window seats or the ones nearest the toilets.

These are closely followed by the shaven-headed, tatooed types with the bleached blonde, white stillettoed partners and hooligan kids.

These are probably the worst. Politely ask the little darlings to stop strangling the trolley dolly, and the parent is likely to tell you to eff off, as they have paid for their seats the same as everyone else.

Landing puts an end to the ordeal, unless of course, they end up in the same hotel as you and are booked on the same flight back.

That’s when the trouble starts. The old saying is true, you really do get what you pay for.

*****

The exception to the above, maybe, are car washes. Just what is the problem with them and why do councils feel the need to ban them, citing breach of planning regulations?

Many of these are set up by migrant workers who provide an excellent service for what amounts to peanuts.

It’s not as if they set up next to the Town Hall, or in the middle of a shopping mall.

Mostly they are at derelict pub or garage sites, bringing a bit of enterprise and vibrancy to what would otherwise be a blot on the landscape.

They also provide employment and revenue for the taxman, most of the time anyway. It’s not as if they can’t be tracked down the the inland revenue, is it?

But now, they are strangled with red tape by jobsworths.

It could be the last few public sector workers left standing when savage government cuts are implemented will not have the time for harrass those performing a public service.