YOUR front page story, and Ruth Annison’s letter (D&S Times, Nov 11) about the success of the campaign to save the Wensleydale Flyer bus are welcome good news. Bus services are vital for many people in isolated rural areas.

Congratulations and thanks to all who organised, campaigned, and gave to keep the Flyer going for another year.

However, I must question why it has to be like this.

Why should we need crowdfunding, last-minute rescues, and company sponsorship to support a public service?

Why, to refer to another story in the same edition, should volunteers run libraries, rather than trained, professional librarians?

There was a time when it was uncontroversial that, as a prosperous, socially-inclusive country, we had good public services financed out of taxes. It was money well spent, and an integral part of what made Britain a good country to live in.

How did we lose that decent, simple, mutually-supportive principle, and come to accept that vital public services should be financed by a series of hand-to-mouth, nick-of-time efforts?

With a possible general election in spring, and elections to North Yorkshire County Council next May, we will have a choice between a mean-spirited emphasis on low taxes, and a public-spirited willingness to use taxes to pay for services that are worth having.

Dave Dalton, Richmond