Mohandas ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi used often to stress that a leader should always be guided by compassion and sympathy, even for those with whom he/she disagrees profoundly.

Wouldn’t it be good if Keith Mitchell took note of Gandhi’s words? In his ‘no’ response (Mail, April 8) to the Issue question ‘Do major public protests make any difference?’, he instead indulges in his now familiar mixture of base sarcasm and mocking superciliousness, describing the recent demonstrators in London variously as “deficit denying lefties” and “a sprinkling of grey-haired middle-class ladies and gentlemen from the shires”.

Admittedly, these are both mild on the Mitchell scale of generalised insults.

Mr Mitchell appears to be incapable of offering any kind of sympathy for the many people in Oxfordshire for whom, as leader of the county council, he has political, social, cultural, and moral responsibilities.

Nor, would it seem, that he feels any compassion for those who are suffering, and will continue to suffer, hardship and distress, over education, health provision, housing, employment, welfare and social care, family life, and, in fact, all the essences of existence, in the years ahead.

Of course, Mr Mitchell can make his economic arguments, right or wrong, but not at the expense of the humane decencies we should expect from our political leaders, just as much as we should from one another.

Bruce Ross-Smith, Bowness Avenue, Headington, Oxford