The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum: Political Letters to The Daily Telegraph - Tapa dura

Telegraph letter writers, that most astute body of political commentators, are probably not alone in thinking that politics has taken some strange turns in recent years. The first coalition government since 1945 has led the country from the subprime to the ridiculous, lumbering from Leveson to Libya, riots to referendums, pasty-gate to pleb-gate, Brooks to Bercow, the Bullingdon Club to the Big Society.

Five years is a long time in politics. Fortunately for us, it has also been a most fertile period for the Telegraph's legion of witty and erudite letter writers, who have their own therapeutic way of dealing with the pain. An institution in their own right, theirs is a welcome voice of sanity in a world in which the lunatics appear finally to have taken over the asylum.

SIR - You report a French diplomat as saying that Britain's attitude to the EU was 'like a man who wants to go to a wife-swapping party without taking his own wife'. Surely we would rather not associate too closely with people like this.

SIR - Politicians keep telling me I want change. They are wrong.

Telegraph letter writers, that most astute body of political commentators, are probably not alone in thinking that politics has taken some strange turns in recent years. The first coalition government since 1945 has led the country from the subprime to the ridiculous, lumbering from Leveson to Libya, riots to referendums, pasty-gate to pleb-gate, Brooks to Bercow, the Bullingdon Club to the Big Society.

Meanwhile, the long-suffering electorate has twice since 2010 bade an enthusiastic goodbye to Gordon Brown - only to be left with Ed Miliband, Russell Brand and Nigel Farage. Neither Ed Balls, nor Tony Blair, his rival for the title of 'most annoying man in politics', show any sign of going quietly. No wonder Nick Clegg admits to enjoying a good cry. Or that David Cameron took his own advice to 'calm down, dear' and spent so much time 'chillaxing' in Cornwall. Five years is a long time in politics. Fortunately for us, it has also been a most fertile period for the Telegraph's legion of witty and erudite letter writers, who have their own therapeutic way of dealing with the pain. An institution in their own right, theirs is a welcome voice of sanity in a world in which the lunatics appear finally to have taken over the asylum.