One rule for them

Could someone please explain why the Northern Irish– supposedly so desperate to be treated like any other part of the United Kingdom–managed to get an entirely different voting system for the European elections to the rest of the country( order of preference rather than a single X), and yet again with Sinn Fein collusion for whom, surprise, surprise, this different system suited?

Never was Britain’s “some are more equal than others” governance so encapsulated. The real issue of Northern Ireland is not British rule, Irish rule or self-rule, it’s been a century of one rule for them and another for the rest of us–with we on the mainland expected to fund the difference.

MARK BOYLE Linn Park Gardens, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

Bill Jamieson’s article (“This Brexit battle is a mere skirmish ”, Perspective ,23 May) suggests a low opinion of the knowledge which voters have of the political divide. “Remain ers look down on Leave voters” apparently. Leave supporters see the battle as “being against a powerful oligarch caste”.

Of course, it suits his political hues to ramp up inflamed

passions. Sometime in the future such vitriol may be seen as irresponsible.

Analysis of who voted for what shows that a significant number of Leave voters were older people from the south of England, who were steeped in Tory tradition and read the Tor y press. Their media exposure was very different and led them to conclusions which seem mistaken to those of us who read a more progressive media.

Proud of their imp erial traditions, these voters tended to believe that immigration sucks the lifeblood of our country, that the EU has eclipsed our sovereignty and that we could sail though Brexit. The media I read led me to quite different conclusions.

On balance, I think my side got it right. The facts are that getting a deal with Europe has been impossible, and the economy is worsening with retail shops in collapse, British Steel on the brink and our car industry scaling back.

No need to damn people one disagrees with. I recall that Labour voters had to eat humble pie over Iraq. Now it’s the turn of the right wing to face oblivion. In just a little while disillusion will set in, and the less extreme par ties will pick up the pieces.

ANDREW VASS Corbiehill Place, Edinburgh