IF you're still tucking into that Christmas pudding, spare a thought for Worcestershire County Council's highways team, which is spending this festive period utterly perplexed about why roads satisfaction is so low.

Back in 2011 a major poll showed how public satisfaction with the roads stood at just 42 per cent, leading to much gnashing of teeth and three years down the line, a combined £50 million chucked into improving matters.

Today, that satisfaction rating stands at a miserable 30 per cent, which surely now puts roads on the same confused political standing as the NHS - the more you spend, the worse people perceive it to be.

But The Source has been researching how other counties are getting on, and it's eye-watering stuff.

Neighbouring Gloucestershire has one of the worst roads satisfaction rates in the entire UK, coming in at just 22 per cent, which will come as no surprise to those who ever have to venture south of Tewkesbury.

And incredibly, in Herefordshire, they've managed to pull in a satisfaction rating of an almost impossible 18 per cent.

What are they doing, killing people?

* FOR weeks now, desperate warnings have been coming from all and sundry in Worcestershire, to stay away from A&E this festive period unless it's absolutely vital.

But the message clearly hasn't got through to Labour's Worcester parliamentary candidate, Councillor Joy Squires.

The local NHS trust, fearing a deluge in visitors to county hospitals, used Twitter this week to make a plea to those with a "cut to your finger" to visit the nearest walk-in instead.

Our would-be MPs response? "Would love to but Worcester walk-in centre was closed by your colleagues (in south Worcestershire) - A&E only local option over Christmas."

Can we bus every man, woman and child with a cut finger to the royal this Christmas, and send the bill to Worcester Labour Party?

* DID you find a life-sized, cardboard cut-out of Ed Miliband in your Christmas stocking yesterday?

If so, you might want to return it to County Hall, C/O Councillor Peter 'call the cops' McDonald, Worcester. Ta.

* THE fun and games continues in Malvern, where politicians are still aiming darts at each other over the costly departure of district council chief executive Chris Bocock, who as we've reported already, has departed with a £170,000 handshake.

Two weeks ago we revealed how Tory Councillor David Hughes, the leader, was so enraged by Lib Dem group leader Tom Wells taking barbs at him that he enlisted the help of Henry Perry communications, one of the county's leading PR firms, to do his dirty work.

The press release in question quoted Cllr Hughes as saying Cllr Wells’ release of the data to the media could "easily have put at risk" the delicate arrangement, calling it "careless" because "personal information to an individual should be protected while the negotiations are underway" to avoid breaching data protection rules.

Mr Bocock's deal was actually agreed before the figures were ever leaked in the first place, meaning negotiations had well and truly finished.

But some of you may be wondering, what happened to Cllr Wells after he was first told in November that he faced punishment for breaching Malvern’s Code of Conduct for daring to tell the press about the payout?

Incredibly, even all these weeks on, it's still being held 'under investigation'.

What a bunch of turkeys.