HOW sad that, on the very day that the banner-headline on the front of the County Gazette reads "TALK UP TAUNTON" a Somerset MP, in the House of Commons, compares our county town to Aleppo.

This takes parliamentary rhetoric to a new low.

Aleppo, and Syria, have been subject to decades of civil war, funded and armed by foreign intervention; tens of thousands have died, millions have fled.

READ MORE: WATCH: Somerset MP compares Taunton to Aleppo

Now, it's true that Taunton has lost its cattle market, its purpose-built central Post Office, its county police HQ, its county borough status, the County Stores and scores of other shops, and gained foodbanks and street sleepers, but it's some time since we were subject to aerial bombardment.

Perhaps Mr Liddell-Grainger might pause to reflect that this Tory borough, in a Tory county is, in reality, suffering from the savage "austerity" cuts imposed by HIS Tory government?

TONY SMITH
Trull