Canoeists paddling past a flooded Yorkshire shopping centre might make a suitably sardonic image for a topical Christmas card next year. And if addressed to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, it might contain an appropriate adaptation of his famous phrase “mending the roof while the sun is shining”. As thousands of acres of northern England become deluged after heavy rain, some places for the third time this winter, the man responsible for massive cuts in public expenditure may need reminding that the best time to repair and improve flood defences is before the heavy rains start – indeed, while the sun shines. Last year a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) said that public spending on the maintenance of flood defences had fallen six per cent in real