What a week and what a great city We must make our opposition felt

CONGRATULATIONS to Coventry... what a Bank Holiday weekend. Coventry City beating Exeter to go up to League One! 51 years of hurt ended. Our last promotion was under Jimmy Hill in 1966/67 when they we were promoted to Division One.

The Biggest Weekend was a massive success with over 37,000 people over the two days. Recently we welcomed the royals, Coventry Rugby went up as Champions. We have the City of Culture coming in 2021, this weekend is MotoFest and to top it off Coventry has been named as the UK’s European City of Sport 2019. Coventry is not on the rise again, it is risen and it has risen high. Tim Mayer Westwood Ward Councillor (Con) ACCORDING to Richard Allen [Letters May 30] the leave vote in the EU referendum, coming as it did from the (slim) majority’s preference for the UK to ‘take back control’ – whatever this may mean – and thus leave the EU, means the loss of rights for the minority of citizens who favoured the Remain side.

Surely it cannot proper, in what we think of as a constitutional democracy, that we distort the principle of majority rule in this way. Can we, in all conscience. allow numerical majorities unlimited scope to deprive numerical minorities of their rights?

Andrew Weale, in an article for The Political Quarterly [17 May 2017] argued that “if someone is a UK citizen, has a belief that leaving the European Union will be damaging to the common good of the UK and is a convinced democrat, then that person has a duty to oppose Brexit. Neither of the two principal reasons for accepting the result—a claim of popular sovereignty or of parliamentary sovereignty—imply a duty not to continue to oppose. Arguments from political equality for simple majority rule do not apply when the alternatives are ill defined. More generally, popular sovereignty presupposes and does not replace constitutional democracy, and in a parliamentary democracy there is always a continuing right to oppose”.

Professor Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard writing for Project Syndicate (June 24 ,2016) remarked that of the EU referendum that “his isn’t democracy; it is Russian roulette for republics”. Too right, it is. Which is why the “beaten” minority must continue to make its opposition felt. Kevin Cryan Radford, Coventry

Our Armed Forces are credit to Britain

MUCH has been said about many aspects of the recent Royal Wedding, and, as a former regular soldier in the Royal Regiment of Wales, I was particularly struck by the precision of the military participants.

Prince Harry and Prince William wore the uniform of the Blues and Royals, one of the Guards Regiments, in which they both served. The Royal Navy and Royal Marines, the Gurkha Rifle Brigade and the RAF Regiment were also among those taking part.

For the post-wedding procession, the Blues and Royals and the Life Guards were simply magnificent. Many other people, including Police, Ambulance and Fire Service personnel were also crucial in ensuring the day’s success.

All around the world, people could again see the dedication and professionalism of our Forces and Emergency Services. Marcus Lapsa, Westwood Ward