I've been compared to Victor Meldrew several times over the years - and as I looked through the proposed cuts from Suffolk County Council I found myself channelling the old misery again.

"I don't believe It!" I found myself saying as I read the proposals to cut all core spending to Suffolk's theatres and arts bodies by April 2025.

And the more I hear about it and see the growing opposition, I become increasingly convinced that it won't happen - and that probably those responsible for this budget had no intention of letting it happen in the first place!

Now 42 years in journalism (and 32 keeping an eye on the county council) has introduced a touch of scepticism - some might say cynicism - into the way I see council proposals.

But to me the idea of wiping out much of Suffolk's cultural life by cutting £500k from a £752m budget just doesn't seem like a politically sane move - that is less than 0.01% of the council's budget!

Because the impact on the theatres and other organisations would be much, much greater than the withdrawal of a few tens of thousands of pounds of county council support.

When funding groups like the National Lottery or major philanthropic bodies give money to projects they like to know they have local support.

That, in effect, means they like to see they're getting a small amount of money (and it's always likely to be pretty small) from their local councils and from the regional arts council.

That means that in Suffolk that they want to see the county council, the local district council and Arts Council East all have a stake in a project before the money flows.

Take the county council away and one leg of the three-legged stool needed to reach the big bucks has gone - and the arts in Suffolk would have the devil's own job in getting help.

Now the county council and its members aren't stupid. They know that and they're highly unlikely to allow that to happen. So what is up?

I suspect it's a big game of bluff. The county council is facing potentially hard times and it wants everyone to know that.

Put up the savings from staff reductions from £11m to £11.5m and no one would worry too much, apart from those workers who will have yet more to do.

Say you're going to take away the £500k you spend on theatres and museums and everyone will be running around like headless chickens saying how tough the budget is.

You'll delight a certain element of your own supporters who think that anyone who goes to the theatre is a woke luvvie - and you can preen yourself in front of government ministers telling them how tough you can be.

Then next year, in the run-up to the local elections when there may well be a different government in power with a slightly different relationship to local authorities you can look at your budget again.

Having shown your toughness to your die-hard supporters this year, you might try winning back some of the wavering voters in the run-up to the polls.

You might find the budget for 25/26 isn't quite as bad as you had thought it might be and you might as well throw a lifeline to all those theatres you looked like hitting a year ago - after all everyone likes a good Panto, don't they?

I know there will be some who think this scenario sounds like a script from an old episode of Yes Minister or The Thick of It, but would you put it past the politicians of the 21st century?