Time that we changed our electoral system for the better
IN her thoughtful treatise on the UK system (The Yorkshire Post, July 17), Justine Greening asks for stronger politics which respects difference, rather than the ‘yah boo’ stuff which, over the years, has come to define and defile Westminster.
The House of Commons increasingly resembles the worst kind of football match, but with too few Gareth Southgates, Marcus Rashfords et al to raise hope.
A reader recently claimed that the UK and Belarus are the only
European countries operating an adversarial first-past-the-post electoral system.
Belarus: ye gods! Assuming this to be true, is it not time to give serious thought to some form of proportional representation?
From: Malcolm Naylor, Ilkley.
FREEDOM day! But freedom from what? Not Covid, that’s for sure.
So freedom from what? Hopefully freedom from fear and control and now is the time to examine and review what changes have occurred under the smokescreen of Covid. And there are many. For example, privatisation of the health service, cuts in health services, particularly for the elderly, increased inequality and inflation, and distraction from the immigration failures of Brexit, just for starters.
So on “freedom day” the danger continues but not from Covid. Our greatest enemy is the capitalist establishment’s destruction of democracy and the enslavement and enforced obedience of the public.
From: Lester May,
Reachview Close, Camden Town, London.
JOLLY good, Archbishop Justin Welby’s sabbatical is over. Not so good is that he is praying for restoration of the UK foreign aid budget to 0.7 per cent.
Welby is rather good at suggesting ways of spending other people’s money, but is time he spent some of the Church of England’s first. The Anglican Church has assets of over £8bn and owns hundreds of buildings that are very low use (perhaps 800,000 attend church on a Sunday, not all of them worshippers, and there are 40 cathedrals and over 15,000 churches). Less sermonising, archbishop, more setting an example yourself, please.
From: Terry Morrell, Willerby.
HOW honest was Allen Jenkinson with his final line in his letter, admitting that he could not have done any better in the business of decision making during the pandemic. Political journalists should take notice when penning their vitriol.