Differing views are a glimpse of democracy

I READ with interest two letters in Mercury Mailbox recently, one from Dr Andrew Golland (“We’re all heroes, Boris, for putting up with you,” Mailbox, October 1) and in reply one from John Sharp (“In defence of Boris in unprecedented times,” Mailbox, October 9).

Dr Golland is presumably a liberal remainer, and Mr Sharp, again presumably, a conservative leaver.

Just to show my own position in this, I am probably slightly right of centre but do not belong to a political party as I always try to see the opposing point of view even if I do not agree with it.

My observation is that many media commentators have pointed out in recent years that the liberal left is becoming more intolerant of opposing views than the conservative right, who they have always accused of that very sin.

Whether your two correspondents are typical of the followers of their respective ideologies and whether you agree with them, the difference in tone between them – a take-noprisoners condemnation from the left and a more comprehensive counter argument from the right – suggests there may be some truth in what the commentators are saying.

Before getting too emotional over political differences, we should remind ourselves that in our democracy we have the opportunity every few years at election time to get rid of a government if and when they become too unpopular or extreme.

In my lifetime, I have seen this system operate successfully many times – not always the way I wanted, but that is democracy.

The alternative is totalitarianism.

Patrick Cleere, Birstall