Jubilant Labour Party members after gaining control

• WE are the masters now. it must have seemed like 1945 to the newly empowered councillors preening themselves after winning this Tory fortress for Labour.

Labour? What labour? The thousands of manual and skilled jobs in industry are gone. The massed ranks of labour are no more. Ergo there is no Labour Party.

It is the “vulnerable”, the “nice as ninepence party” that espouses any grievance whether of colour, religion, disability, history and so on, but never utters a word about recreating a country where having paid employment meant you could pay your way. There’s an old-fashioned idea.

Our friends in the North have sussed them out. More power to Hartlepool! Let’s hope they’re not let down.

H CONLON
Charing Cross Road, WC2