YET another gem from Councillor John Tanner (Labour), board member for a Cleaner, Greener Oxford, city councillor for Littlemore and county councillor for Isis (Letters, September 24).

Congratulations indeed, though, to Louise Upton’s “remarkable”, almost bizarre, victory in quirky Oxford’s high income North Ward, rendered all the more uncanny by the fact that both elected municipal representatives in that affluent zone are now Labour.

What city-wide, let alone national, trends or lessons can be extrapolated from this gain is, nonetheless, something of a moot point.

But who would disagree with Mr Tanner’s suggestion that “we must continue to deliver more homes (and) to preserve our green spaces”, even though I am not entirely convinced that these policies are totally compatible.

Still, he knows far more about that sort of thing than I do.

Few would argue, either, with his wish “to make Oxford a better and fairer place in which to live.”

However, unlike with respect to the toilet issue (yeah, okay), I am not having a personal dig at him when I refer to the student flats overlooking Port Meadow, as this seems to be a concern for those of more than one political persuasion.

I have visited that part of Oxford perhaps some 30 or 40 times but it was never to look back in admiration at the dreaming spires, nor have I seen many other people staring in that direction, nor many private cameras pointing at it, nor many postcard photos taken from the meadow.

Besides, these sights are not invariably that attractive.

Apart from a small minority of the city’s (and its environs’) denizens and possibly alumni, I doubt whether many folk could give a monkey’s about the matter, when there are so many infinitely more important and pressing problems to resolve, or whether such trivia will particularly influence Ed Miliband’s policy in the run-up to the local, European or general elections, notwithstanding John’s advice.

David Diment, Riverside Court, Oxford