Oxfordshire County Council leader Keith Mitchell says there is no place for political correctness in Oxfordshire (Oxford Mail, March 8).

How fascinating. Is he really saying that he would like to go back to the days when casual sexist and racist epithets were thrown about in conversation with abandon?

Yes, political correctness has overshot its original targets and has become, especially in cases like changing the words of Baa Baa Black Sheep, almost a parody of its original aims.

But language shapes attitudes, and ridiculous comments such as Mr Mitchell's are in danger of devaluing the very real gains that have been made in helping to establish a fairer and more just society over the past three decades.

Oh, and it's not "political correctness gone mad". If he must trot out the tired cliche, can he at least adapt it to "political correctness gone mentally challenged"?

Andy Stout, Blenheim Gardens, Wantage