Don’t thank suffragettes for winning women the right to vote
THE idea that the suffragettes made votes for women possible is a myth, so I don’t welcome the proposed statue to honour Emmeline Pankhurst at Parliament (Mail).
The suffragettes did more than chain themselves to railings. They attacked politicians, smashed shop windows, bombed postboxes and set fire to Lloyd George’s house.
They were extremists who harmed their own cause. The very word ‘suffragette’ was an appellation devised by the Daily Mail to describe the fanatics favouring militant action. This term misuse the Confederate flag as a weapon but we should try to recall it is really about history, not hatred.
EDDIE DUNCAN, via email. WHEN they have finished tearing down statues in the Southern states of America, what next – burning books? A. FISHER, Grangemouth,
Stirlingshire.
The Beeb’s bungling
THE BBC not only seems incapable of running its sprawling business, but also its pension fund, which has a £1.8billion deficit (Mail). Rather than planning to plug this black hole with a tenth of the revenue raised by the licence fee, it should be forced to do what any sensible business would do and pay for it by selling off its assets.
Why should the public have to suffer the financial burden, inferior programmes and more repeats to finance over-pampered and self-regarding BBC staff? And the thorny issue of the public sector pension deficit distinguished them from their more peaceful sisters, the suffragists, who favoured working through constitutional channels.
It was the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), founded by Millicent Fawcett, that gathered significant support for female suffrage. Through peaceful petitions, processions and public meetings, the suffragist movement had 50,000 members.
The violent methods supported by Pankhurst nearly destroyed everything they had campaigned for so patiently.
The suffragettes did not stop their makes the BBC problem look minor. SIMON SMITH, Margate, Kent.
Chivalrous Bruce
WHEN I worked for a language school, I would collect students from Heathrow. On one occasion, I was queuing at the information desk with a distraught Spanish boy who had lost his case.
The debonair gentleman in front of me had lost his golf clubs, but immediately offered to help. He was charming and had amazing blue eyes.
After we were reunited with militant ‘deeds not words’ tactics until the outbreak of World War I.
It was the NUWSS pointing out the contribution women had made to the war effort that was instrumental in gaining the vote for some British women aged over 30 in the Representation of the People Act in 1918.
Millicent lived to see the franchise extended to all women over the age of 21 in 1928. The suffragists were feminists who stood up for women’s rights, while the suffragettes were more like girls having tantrums. EMILIE LAMPLOUGH, Trowbridge, Wilts. the lost case, he shook my hand and wished me well. Only then did I hear the baggage handler say: ‘We’ve found your clubs, Mr Forsyth.’ I had no idea my knight in silver armour had been Brucie!
Mrs S. CHARLES, Eastbourne, E. Sussex. IT FEELS as if Bruce Forsyth has always been part of my life, bringing cheer and laughter into the living room.
Whatever troubles I had, I couldn’t be glum when Brucie was on the box. I’ll miss him and his love of life.
ROS ELLIS, Ilford, E. London.
Good sports
I THINK it ironic that the Scottish Government highlights an obesity epidemic in Scotland yet wants to impose business rates on leisure centres and golf courses (Mail), a move that will inevitably lead to higher charges that will put off many from taking part in sports.
We should be trying to encourage people to become more active, as this will pay off in the long term. HUGH GILMOUR, Houston,
Renfrewshire.