Having read the outcome of the hearing accusing Brighton and Hove city councillor Dawn Barnett (pictured below) of being racist for saying that golliwogs were “nostalgic”, I must say that I, and many others I suspect, agree with Dawn (The Argus, December 20).

She was asked for her opinion and gave it honestly without being derogatory about anyone.

These toys were much-loved by children at the time.

I can quite understand why the council hearing was held behind closed doors – they must have felt really embarrassed to make such a huge mountain out of such a small a molehill.

Now more taxpayers’ money is being wasted sending intelligent adults on a course, treating them like naughty children.

What is it going to do? Brainwash them?

Elisabeth Cole, Northease Gardens, Hove

I read about Coun Dawn Barnett being told to attend diversity classes. This is to be paid out of the public purse.

That is money which could have been spent on more worthwhile causes.

I am spitting feathers again with the way this council is run. It is showing Brighton and Hove up as a laughing stock.

I don’t think the council would have been quite so free with the money had it been its own.

What’s wrong with using the word “golliwog” in the context of a nice cuddly toy for Christmas?

If you used the word in a threatening manner to someone then that is a different matter.

I would like the leader of the council to write a letter to The Argus informing readers just how much the council is going to spend on this, including time the workers will spend attending the course, away from their real duties.

I would love to be a fly on the wall in the room where this course is due to take place. I would probably have fallen off the wall with laughter.

Surely, an email sent to all departments suggesting that staff are more careful with their choice of words would have been sufficient.

I have bought golliwog toys in the past for children and grandchildren, who have had hours of fun with them.

I am sure thousands of others have done the same.

Come on, get real – it is a sad time for society when things like this come to the fore.

Should Coun Barnett’s words have gone to a public vote the result would have been, I suspect, in overwhelming support for her.

It is about time the public stood up and rebelled about the way this country is now run by the Government and local councils.

Thank goodness we can show our dissatisfaction with both via the ballot box.

David Rowland, Harvest Close, Telscombe Cliffs

The treatment of Coun Barnett is shameful.

The insanity of political correctness, and how it has developed, has far-reaching consequences.

Virtually every modern-day issue is now affected by this.

Attempts to combat religious extremism and street crime are invariably blocked because someone hides behind this madness.

Dawn Barnett is an effective councillor. She is not afraid to address sensitive issues and has her finger on the pulse of local and public opinion.

My dream is that, at the next general election, 650 Dawn Barnetts are elected to Westminster.

Likewise, we should elect a majority of “Barnetites” to run Brighton and Hove City Council.

This would be a Utopia compared with the shambolic administration we have now.

Richard J Szypulski, Lavender Street, Brighton

Am I the only one who finds it incongruous that Coun Barnett has been found guilty of bringing her office into disrepute “inadvertently” (Councillor Lizzie Deane, Green deputy leader of the council) while no such charge has been brought by any Green Party member (locally or nationally) against Green MP Caroline Lucas, who was arrested while taking part in an anti-fracking protest near Balcombe?

G Upton, Hove