Largely echoing my own sentiments, Colin Smith further wonders: “How a man like John Tanner can keep on making a laughing-stock of himself?” (Oxford Mail ViewPoints, March 27).

Perhaps this will ultimately be a question for certain professional or quasi-professional figures to address but, meanwhile, one explanation is that the Oxford Mail, arguably irresponsibly and even cruelly, allows him to do so.

Another related one is that the only intervention, with respect to this latest loo-nacy, I personally have encountered from any of his colleagues is that of Oscar van Nooijen, who seems to condone – and endeavours to eclipse, conceivably – the senior councillor’s buffoonery by proposing piped music in our public toilets, in which connection I have ironically made a few (as yet unpublished) specific suggestions.

I asked a neighbour of mine, himself involved in local politics, who on earth – or words to that effect – elected Mr Tanner, to which he compellingly responded that those of that persuasion tended to vote for the party rather than the individual.

Fair enough, but there must come a point when even the most dogmatic and robotic feel that the personality of the candidate becomes the dominant factor, so how much further does he have to go?

Although no Labour supporter, I consider there to be a need, in the current socio-economic climate, for a strong socialist presence in local government, though it is not easy to appreciate how the ever-wilder “eccentricities” of one councillor, the apparent support of another and the silence of the relevant remainder, foster this.

DAVID DIMENT, Riverside Court, Oxford