Oxfordshire Town disowns French twin

The Mayor of Wallingford, in Oxfordshire, is seeking to de-twin with Luxeuil-les-Bains in eastern France. They send the French Christmas cards and the Wallingford magazine each month but haven't had anything back for the last ten years.

The Council for European Municipalities and Regions say they have no procedure for ending twinning. But surely Wallingford could just pass a motion and write to the French notifying them.

The good news is that relations between Wallingford and its German twin, Bad Wurzach, are going much better.

Is town twinning justified? Not if it means free holidays for councillors. But if, for instance, it could help schools set up exchange programmes for children in the holidays that would seem quite useful and shouldn't really cost anything.