THE problem for James Alexander and the Labour party is that the Lendal Bridge fiasco has taken on a life of its own and refuses to have a line drawn under it.

It all reminds me of the eminent scientist who persuaded a volunteer to jump into a bath of freezing water and subsequently into a bath of boiling water, every single calculation he had made indicates that on average the volunteer would be merely “warm” – fatally so, it turned out.

The conclusion, you see, is that it’s the practical that counts, not the theoretical. Maybe in years to come the defining moment in a politician’s life in York will come to be known as their “Lendal moment”.

Geoffrey Searstone, Moor Lane, York.