I GUESS Councillor Jacob Young (HAS, Sept 16) is too young to remember the Cambridge Footlights sketch where a young RAF pilot is told by his Wing Commander that as the war is getting a bit sticky there was a need for a volunteer to undertake a futile suicidal mission – and that he was that man.

Cllr Young’s letter sought to portray our new Tory Tees Mayor as a man of gravitas and to say that the parmo debacle was just a bit of lighthearted respite from such things as chairing the South Tees Development Corporation and dealing with ambitious highway schemes which make up the real red meat of the job.

His letter seemed a good example of such a futile mission to keep up the spirit of local Conservatives, who, I guess, have their heads in their hands at the present time.

The reality, however, is that all the structures and plans on the drawing board of the Tees Valley Combined Authority and the Development Corporation and the Land Commission were all in place well before Ben Houchen found, to his bemusement, that he was now mayor, and that all these matters fell into his lap.

Onerous and complicated matters, no doubt, and it was perhaps a relief to find solace in puffing up parmo instead.

Councillor David Walsh (Lab), Skelton, Cleveland