Sir – Tory councillors and their Lib Dem fellow travellers choose Christmas as the ideal time to announce that they have voted themselves an 19 per cent pay rise (what happened to local government as a voluntary service for the public good?) — presumably to fortify themselves for the strenuous work of deciding how to strip away £20m of vital services for the most vulnerable in our society, and sack council staff.

These people have no shame. So we must supply it for them. We should go into their communities, and contrast their wealth with the poorest who they are asking, in effect, to fund their 19 per cent rise.

We should put up independent candidates against them at the next elections — perhaps those about to lose support services would like to stand?

We should never let them forget our contempt. Readers who think likewise, please email me at julianlevay@aol.com to get this going. If we shrug and do nothing, we deserve the politicians we get — frightful thought!

Julian Le Vay, Oxford