MMP IS GOOD, BUT …

Your editorial was right to espouse MMP as a system that allows for greater representation in our Parliament (“Three cheers for MMP, October 8).

It’s wrong, however, to assume there are no New Zealanders who feel frozen out of the political system. Consider the 28.6% of eligible voters in

2014 who did not enrol or did not bother to vote.

Many of these are disengaged because they look at the cosy coalition that has governed since 1984 and see no real alternative to the entrenched neoliberal policies that have undermined our way of life. The unwritten understanding that exists between our major parties can be tested by looking at particular MPs

and imagining if they could be sitting on the other side of the House – would anyone notice if Phil Goff and Nick Smith swapped places?

If a Bernie Sanders or Jeremy Corbyn could rise from the ashes of the Labour Party and motivate those who are hard done by and unrepresented to join the existing voters who do not like the status quo, then New Zealand might see real political change.

I will file your editorial to check your prediction that the Corbynistas have little chance of success and will write to you after the next UK election to offer you a bottle of fine Hawke’s Bay wine if you prove to be correct, but seeking a retraction if you have read it wrong. Keith Simes (Hastings)