Reader Letters

One reader is against the UK rejoing the European Union, despite being in full support of the project. As I read the columns in TNE #222 – and nodded sagely at Donald Macintyre’s analysis and absorbed the various arguments put forward for re-engaging with, if not re-joining, the EU sometime post-January 2021 – I gave […]

Keir Starmer must not be allowed to ‘fence sit’ on the big issue of the day. The leader of the opposition must stand up not only for the 48% who voted Remain but the overwhelming majority of voters and MPs (including most Labour members and voters) who opposed a no-deal or bad deal, the very […]

Is it time to take a leaf out of Nigel Farage’s book to force Rejoin on to the political agenda? Ian Dunt is right (“Time for this eerie silence to end”, TNE #222) that no party is currently advocating rejoining the EU. This puts those of us who campaigned for four years, or more, to […]

Readers have their say on the on-going Brexit and coronavirus crises. The pandemic has highlighted the need to compromise, cooperate and collaborate. Without compromise a balance cannot be struck between saving lives and livelihoods. Without cooperation communities will not work with the authorities keeping people safe and the economy supplying essential commodities and needs. Experts, including […]

Readers have their say on how Labour should vote on any Brexit deal. Let us assume, as Alastair Campbell does, that the government reaches a deal with the EU. It is sincerely to be hoped that the Labour Party does not support any such arrangement. To reject a bad deal is not only in the […]

Readers have their say on Andrew Adonis’ essay on whether a federal UK is possible. Can I answer Andrew Adonis’ question “What Chance a Federal UK?” (TNE #220). Yes, there’s every chance, if only we could stop being so shy of the ‘F’ word and address it head on. I hope the TNE will continue […]

Readers respond to suggestions Brexit is no longer the defining issue in politics it once was. Sir John Curtice tells us that 87% of Remain voters (“Has Brexit gone off the boil?“, TNE #220) would vote the same way again as they did in 2016. That tells me that 13% haven’t been following the news for the […]

Hands up, TNE readers, if you thought Johnson would sack Patel. No takers? Hands up if you knew he wouldn’t but thought he should. Full house, I suspect. Repeat the process with the Brexit questions. Hands up if you think: we’ll be better off economically and our influence in the world will increase; we’ll be […]

When (if?) we finally have a public inquiry into the government’s response to the pandemic I think we will find that the combination of ‘Boosterism’ (entering lockdown late, coming out early, eat out to help out etc.) and ‘Chumocracy’ (purchase of PPE, Test and Trace etc.) has not served the country well, with both a […]

Readers continue to propose ideas for improving the calibre of politicians in the House of Commons. Ideas abound about how to improve our politics. Recent suggestions in letters to TNE include making MPs do a work experience, having time limits on how many years they can serve, and of course the popular suggestions of reform […]

Rather than a reset can’t we just rewind by four years back to June 2016? With the departures of Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain there has been much discussion of this being an opportunity for the PM to ‘reset’. Personally I would prefer a ‘rewind’, specifically to that point in June 2016, before we broke […]

Liz Gerard’s question ‘Should we feel sorry for the PM?’ deserves a response. There is nothing about Boris Johnson and his premiership that can be commended. The Vote Leave regime that he leads is the architect of the hapless state of affairs in which we find ourselves and we haven’t even lived Brexit yet. He […]

Readers have their say on Donald Trump’s loss and Joe Biden’s win in the US election. I’m so glad to see the back of Donald Trump: the polarisation and divisiveness, the twisted stories, the 1960s salesmanship, the general sense of anxiety he’s left on the world. Wherever he goes I hope Farage, Johnson and Cummings […]

The election of Joe Biden is a rare moment of opportunity for British advocates of internationalism to help cement the president-elect’s world view. The moment will be short-lived. The news agenda will move on and the Bannon/Cummings right will regroup and chip away at the new White House. Now is the time for Keir Starmer, […]

So what have we learnt this week in the dystopian Covid Brexit land that the UK seems to have become? That forecasts are just that and even a “reasonable worst-case scenario” might start looking optimistic. That you can only disregard the advice of experts, be they scientists or economists, for so long – the facts […]

Readers have their say on how politicians can be more in touch with the people they represent. What a splendid idea by Nick Roberts to make MPs go on annual ‘life experience’ in order to keep them connected to the communities they represent. Another idea worth trying is one of term limits. MPs in safe […]

Readers have their say on the furore over the government failure to provide free school meals during the holidays. As many politicians once again demonstrate that they are out of touch with ordinary people by voting against providing free school meals in holidays, is now the time to suggest that all politicians should undertake a […]

Readers have their say on politics in Germany, and make comparisons to Britain. The German people believe Angela Merkel will tell them the truth (“Trust helps Germany through its crisis”, TNE #215). The biggest issue with our government is a lack of faith.The trust in Boris Johnson and his uninspiring crew has been systematically undermined […]

Readers have their say on the silence of Baroness Dido Harding, who is overseeing the government’s test and trace scheme. I can’t help wondering why, if Diana ‘Dido’ Harding is that capable, confident and articulate (“Test of her life”, TNE #215), she doesn’t seem to do more media interviews: after all, who better to report […]

Readers have their say on the latest opinion articles from The New European. Re: Alastair Campbell on Piers Morgan. Though I used to find Piers insufferable, I now looking forward to his combative take on all things Covid-19 and the disastrous no-deal Brexit prospect.Last Monday I felt a tad deflated not to see him and […]

Liz Gerard is correct to identify the first-past-the-post electoral system as a major cause of our divisive and dysfunctional politics and to say that electoral reform is the only way to escape this. However, she is mistaken to describe the alternative vote (AV), the subject of the 2011 referendum, as “a sort of PR” – […]

I must take exception to Phil Green’s letter “Bodge job” (TNE # 214) comparing the prime minister to beloved sitcom character Captain Mainwaring of Dad’s Army.  The Home Guard leader may have at times been “blustering, incompetent, pompous and inept”, but he was also patriotic, courageous, inclusive and humane, not to mention capable of inspiring […]

Don’t expect to see the back of Boris Johnson any time soon, says one reader. Reports of Johnson’s early political demise may well titillate but I suspect are exaggerated and probably over-hopeful. I would be the first to admit that I read with relish how this most rubbish of prime ministers is on the skids. […]

Readers have their say on reports of a Tory war on the BBC. Peter York and Liz Gerard are very informative about the battle for the BBC (“The war on the BBC is real and organised”, “Blue sky blogs have BBC in their sights”, TNE #213). However, they did not touch on two aspects of […]

Readers have their say on Keir Starmer’s performance on Brexit and Europe. A lot of us are trying to get our heads round Keir Starmer’s “the debate between Leave and Remain is over” (it certainly isn’t) and “we are not going to be a party that keeps banging on about Brexit” (yes we are). We’re […]

Winston Peters – leader of the New Zealand First party – has long been described as a populist, both in New Zealand and internationally. At different times during his career he has embraced the label. As he said recently, populism to him “means that you’re talking to the ordinary people and you’re placing their views […]

I wonder what clever slogan the ‘genius superforecaster’ in Downing Street is going to come up with as the UK hits a tipping point over the pandemic?“Get Covid Done” sounds like the best. It’s short and snappy and it’s something we can all believe in. What is brilliant about this slogan is it taps into the […]

There was a lot to applaud in Keir Starmer’s virtual conference speech and I understand why he says Labour will no longer “bang on about Europe”. Yet on Brexit, as with other aspects of policy, the party must do far more than keep schtum and hope that the Tories continue to make unforced errors all […]

Your correspondents and letters pages rightly focus on the future challenges for Labour and the Liberal Democrats, shell-shocked by the election. “Is Starmer more Major than Blair?”, asks Peter Kerr – but is Starmer more John Smith, perhaps?Recovery is not enough now; inspiring vision is also needed. Harold Wilson, another exemplar, also ran the modernisation vision […]

Between September and December 12 last year, I and a dedicated group of Lib Dem canvassers knocked on every door of the four Harpenden wards, not once but twice as we pushed to unseat Bim Afolami, our careerist, lacklustre Tory MP. Harpenden and Hitchin voted 61% in favour of remaining in the EU, so many […]

Readers praise EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who – unlike Boris Johnson – has shown himself to be a man of principle. Very interesting interview with Michel Barnier by Marion van Renterghem. The EU’s chief negotiator comes across as a person of principle and values. I won’t make comparisons with those on the UK side. […]

There will always be a place for the Liberal Democrats politically, argues a reader. One of the great lies told by Brexiters about the EU is that it seeks to squash national identity and subsume it all into a European superstate. Readers of this newspaper know that isn’t true and that Europe values and celebrates […]