Sir – David Cameron and local MP Ed Vaizey, who is also minister for libraries, tend to the ‘let them eat cake’ persuasion of rural social reality.

To them, there may be poorer contingents among the homes and gardens idylls of Oxfordshire, but those disadvantaged by lack of income can at least volunteer — what else should they do with that free time between supervising the local pub/play-centre/soup kitchen in the parish church and such gainful employment as pulling the wisteria off country house chimneys? (Remember, one man’s expenses claim is another’s living wage.) Ed’s take on rural living costs is informative. Recently, in the Sutton Courtenay News, a parish newsletter, he told how the biggest mail he received concerned the impact of fuel price hikes for the sustainability of remaining in employment, for those living rurally, on low incomes.

Fortunately, he informed us, his pal Chancellor George Osborne forbore to enact a postulated 1p per litre duty rise in the Budget, therefore saving the day, although no mention was made of the earlier 2.5 per cent rise in VAT. This looks like more cake again, where an approximate 3.5p per litre enacted is better than a fictional 1p.

Dear reader, I suggest you pop down to your local library (if it isn’t closed down and the volunteer can afford to travel there) and ask for something by Kafka, where you will find all you need to know about the coalition’s approach to the Big Society.

Dr Pauline Wilson, Sutton Courtenay