If by palm you mean Cordyline australis, it should not be cut back now unless the trunk is rotting and smelly. Leave it till late spring and if it survives this winter, you can take the trunk down to the ground if you want to.

Ohh Bamboo..... can you help me too

We had two the largest was in the front garden and it survive the winter 2009, but after last winter like many others it lost its leaves and looked dead but the trunk seems ok and now I have huge amount of growth at the bottom of the trunk...this may sound daft but..what is that, an off shoot, will that grow into a tree eventually ? should I cut the old truck down?

Hope you can help me too

The tree was damaged by the winter and the trunk's died back - the roots were okay and so now you've got new growth coming from the base of the trunk, which isn't unusual. Would have been best to have cut the trunk down to where the new growth is by end of June this year - if, as you suggest, the trunk isn't smelly and soggy, leave it till April or so, then cut it down, preferably at an angle to allow rain to run off. If it gets smelly or soggy or starts oozing, take it down immediately.
The new growth will grow on into new trunks over time - assuming it makes it through another bad winter, if there is one.