A new year full of hope and promise has arrived. We have a new government with proper ideas and purpose, Brexit is imminent and those responsible for delaying it in the first place have been dragged out of office. Pure bliss!

Yet it is also a year which will see the same old tricks being played on locals by the council. A quick review of the latest political news tells you all you need to know: more houses being crammed into unsuitable spaces, banning cars from the city centre, council tax raised by the maximum they can legally get away with, and, just in case anybody forgot their most recent stunt, some of that tax increase will be going to line councillors own pockets.

Happy New Year everyone.

Dr Scott Marmion, Woodthorpe, York

Are we heading for Survival Island?

I am contemplating the likely catastrophe that, in my opinion, is the incoming Conservative administration.

In conversation with recent converts to the carriers of Thatcher’s baton a common theme is contempt for Jeremy Corbyn. The change in his popularity since the last general election could probably be laid at the door of Dominic Cummings. But I wonder if the true architects of the outcome is our obsession with reality TV, a fantasy land where you can vote without consequence for an outcome without significance. It should soon be obvious in which show we have participated. Hopefully it will be ‘The Great British Bake Off’. Regrettably I fear we have bet on ‘Survival Island’.

Richard D Bowen,

Farrar Street,York