The National Fluttery.

[Workingman]

It's up for renewal.

Camelot has always run it, but it was sold to the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan in 2010 for £389m. In that time its profits have jumped from £39m to £71m, so the pension fund has had its money back.

It is time to bring it 'in house'.

It is not exactly high-tech and rocket science to run, and a small department of government could do it as a not-for-profit operation.

Cut the ticket price, cut the numbers to, say, forty, cap the top prize and make the other prizes bigger, and do away with the six fig salaries.

Sales are about £6.9bn a year and the breakdown is roughly 50% prize fund, 28% to good causes, 12% in tax to the UK government, 5% to the retailer 5% to Camelot.

Cut out Camelot (or other profit operator) and that's another £350m to good causes.

I stopped when the price doubled and the numbers went up, but I would play again with better odds.

[JoM]

Frank, I used to buy a ticket when I thought about it but like you stopped when those changes were made.

There's a bit of a downer on it around here anyway. We live on the site of what was Littleton Colliery and while the winding wheel is still in the village, there are plans to move it onto our estate and build a memorial garden around it (hundreds of bricks have already been sold to families of miners and their names will be on them), it's not just to commemorate the pit but also to house a war memorial.

The parish council applied for funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and have just learned that they've been unsuccessful. It's the second time they've applied for something for the village and the second time they've been turned down.

[Workingman]

Yes, Jo, too many stories like that. It was another turn off TBH.

Plenty of money for parades and festivals but nothing for memorials or gardens of rest etc. I think funding has improved, but things linger...........