COUNTY council leader Ian Hudspeth doesn’t appear to comprehend the futility of his stated position – on the one hand he supports central government’s austerity policies, on the other “I will always stand up for the people of our county” (February 4).

The first means the second can’t be realised. Cllr Hudspeth is caught up in his very own version of the myth of Sisyphus. The gods condemned Sisyphus to push a heavy boulder up a steep hill only then to find that the weight of the boulder would force it to roll down again just as Sisyphus thought he was about to push the boulder on to a secure summit. Good, though, to know Mr Hudspeth joins “the government in looking forward to that future with optimism”.

For the people of Oxfordshire, that future is a boulder going in the wrong direction.

BRUCE ROSS-SMITH
Bowness Avenue
Headington
Oxford