Chancellor George Osborne has extended a helping hand to families by declaring that council tax will be frozen for another year.

This is fantastic news: we won't be charged extra for all the services that we don't have any more as opposed to paying even more for even less.

Next year's freeze will save the average family around �72 a year, or a whopping �6 a month.

That's an incredible one 12th of the amount the cost of living has risen by over the past year – it's like all our Christmasses and birthdays rolled into one.

I don't know about you, but this generous hand-out has made me completely forget about the aboveinflation energy bill increases, the below-inflation wage increases, the predicted rises in interest rates, the VAT increase, the child benefit freeze, higher tax rates, exorbitant petrol price hikes, punitive university tuition fees and the fact that the UK has just been named the worst place to live in Europe for quality of life.

If only that quality of life survey had taken place after George Osborne's announcement, I should imagine it would have been a very different story if those asked had realised they were about to be gifted 20p extra a day.

Talking of budgetary cuts, state officials in Kansas have come up with a novel way to solve their financial woes – they're considering legalising domestic violence.

According to the City Council of Topeka, the cost of prosecuting such cases is just too high, so it is discussing whether or not to decriminalise domestic violence to save a few dollars. I can't believe that our own government hasn't considered such a forward-thinking scheme – and why stop at domestic violence? Decriminalise murder, assault, burglary and rape and just imagine how much money you could save.

The fact that there will soon be less police officers wouldn't be so noticeable, the burden on the prison service would be eased and, let's face it, most of the people who'd be killed were probably some form of drain on the welfare state anyway.

I tell you, the world has got an express ticket to hell in a handcart when you've got certifiable, shortsighted, pig-thick nut-jobs like these deciding policy.

•This article was original published on October 10, 2011