Reader Letters

RICHARD CORBETT on the warped economics of European football which are entrenching its elite sides. So, Bayern Munich are European football champions for the sixth time, after beating Paris St-Germain in last month’s Champions League final. Their triumph means that every time over the last 15 years (with one exception), the tournament has been won […]

Readers have their say on what the Lib Dems must do to turn around their fortunes with the electorate. Emma Kennedy makes several good points in her recent article. Despite a disappointing seat tally the Lib Dem vote in 2019 went up by a solid 4.1% to a respectable 11.5% on an unequivocal pro-EU platform. […]

Being part of the EU is more likely to solve Brexiteer Priti Patel’s problems than being out of it. Some of your readers will remember the Small Faces’ Whatcha Gonna Do About It – if you don’t, have a listen. So Priti Patel, what are you going to do about it, ‘it’ being the ‘invasion’ […]

With the UK in a recession and heading towards another cliff-edge the Lib Dems appear unable yet to revive itself from the 2019 election defeat. Trust in British politics has been shaken. We need a coherent opposition alliance focused on campaigning for a complete overhaul of our failing politics for a fairer electoral system. So […]

Boris Johnson’s latest peerage nominations included a number of his Brexiteer supporters, and even his own brother. But one reader thinks he should have gone further. Despite its obvious nepotism, the awarding of a life peerage to Jo Johnson seems one of the least obnoxious aspects of the appointments by ‘the people’s government’ addressing ‘the […]

Now is not yet time for pro-Europeans to make a move, but that time is coming. I will not go over Ben Bradshaw’s excellent summary of what happened after the referendum, but on the following Monday I bumped into one of my fellow councillors, on a council that must remain anonymous to protect the innocent. […]

If Boris Johnson wants to avoid becoming the prime minister who broke the union here is what he must do. I deeply love Scotland, the country of my birth, and having already been robbed of European citizenship, value my shared British identity. This is now at risk (Ian Dunt, ‘The battle for the Union is […]

Russia has attempted to tear apart the European Union, but instead it has brought it closer together. Russian interference in the Brexit referendum (‘The Russia Report and what it doesn’t tell us’, TNE #204) was driven, apparently, by its desire to weaken the European Union. I think recent events actually suggest the meddling has strengthened […]

The reality of what the end of the transition period means is only now starting to hit home. Yet another piece of underhand behaviour by the ‘Brexit at any cost’ government has just slipped out; we will no longer have reciprocal medical cover in EU countries. Many millions of us who have European Health Insurance […]

Readers have their say on the Leave.EU campaign’s move to New Zealand to support populist Kiwi politician Winston Peters. I notice from Steve Anglesey’s column that arch-Brexiteers Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore have been in New Zealand campaigning against the incumbent prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and her ruling party (‘Laughing all the way to Banks’ […]

Readers have their say on the latest developments over Brexit and the government’s response to coronavirus. Ministers say they trust people to do the sensible thing when it comes to face masks. That presumably includes all those people who have ignored all the advice and instructions so far, refuse to wear a face mask under […]

One reader thinks Boris Johnson will resign after claiming he has achieved his goal of getting Brexit ‘done’. Am I the only person who thinks the career psychopath and his mop-haired poodle will have resigned by the end of the year, claiming how they courageously managed to ‘get Brexit done’? Job done: Maximum destruction and […]

Labour will fare better once the issue of Scottish independence is resolved, claims reader David Roche. It was heartening to see four letters supporting the further (d)evolution of the well-past-its sell-by date United Kingdom in TNE #201. In particular, councillor Andrew Parrott’s rationale – as a ‘liberal Englishman’ with sympathy for liberal-Labour policies – for […]

Readers have their say on the week in news. Boris Johnson told us Brexit would be easy, then we’d sort out this virus in three months and now he tells us he’s pumping billions into the economy and there will be no austerity. As they say ‘third time lucky’. Tony Howarth London SW3 Have your […]

Whether it’s Brexit or the coronavirus response, this isn’t ‘British exceptionalism’, it was manufactured in England. Surely the people of Scotland, Wales and Ulster have every right to protest when they hear the expression ‘British exceptionalism’. As the former MP Phillip Lee insisted on a recent Channel 4 Dispatches, the source of the government’s disastrous […]

One reader thinks the tactics Boris Johnson used to win the last election are here to stay. Why do so many commentators and letter writers to TNE assume that the collapse of the Johnson project (if such a shambles may be termed thus) will provide an opening for the liberal centre-left? Given the 2019 election […]

Readers have their say on what needs to happen to change politics at the next general election. Andrew Adonis is quite right that we need an electoral pact in 2024 to rid ourselves of these directionless extremists (‘The crucial contest’, TNE #198), but I would suggest he doesn’t go far enough. What is needed is […]

Readers have their say on the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, and a potential trade agreement with Donald Trump. Francis Beckett’s article ‘We’re being fattened up for a one-way deal with Trump’ was depressing enough, but added to Boris Johnson’s love for all things American, as quoted in his book Life in the Fast Lane, […]

Readers have their say on the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK, with the latest unrest triggered by the death of George Floyd in the US. As British media outlets scramble to find black/brown voices to comment on the horrors unfolding in America, the ‘thank-goodness-we’re-not-that-bad’ tone seems false to me. In the UK we […]

Readers have their say on the EU, and Boris Johnson’s refusal to extend the Brexit transition period, during the coronavirus pandemic. As a European citizen, I feel offended by countries like Austria, Holland, Denmark and Sweden that put financial issues before solidarity even in these times of pandemic. I would like a European government, I […]

Despite beating Jeremy Corbyn at the last election, Boris Johnson appears to be making the same mistakes in his leadership techniques. Up to now Johnson had a triple strength political honeymoon, generated by huge electoral success, ‘getting Brexit done’ (part one, anyway), and widespread deep sympathy after his Covid-19 brush with death. His government’s risible […]

Readers have their say on the government’s response to the coronavirus, and how Dominic Cummings has only made things worse. So, our new not-quite-yet world-beating NHS Test and Trace system is, uh, on the way to being up-and-running and it might take a few weeks to get it fully in place. Of course, it was […]

Readers give their views on Keir Starmer’s leadership so far, and dare to dream about the next general election. James Ball’s insightful article on Keir Starmer (‘Opposition rediscovers its mission’, TNE #195) echoed my view that, under the unique set of circumstances, Keir couldn’t have done a better job thus far. The arithmetic does indeed […]

While Labour might be getting its act together again, readers believe the Dominic Cummings saga proves that it’s Boris Johnson who is most likely to bring down his own leadership. Brief moments in politics can have deep resonances. When Ann Widdecombe and her UKIP colleagues turned their backs during a performance of the European anthem […]

Readers react to Boris Johnson’s easing of the lockdown. South Korea is experiencing a new spike in cases after easing lockdown restrictions. Germany’s R-rate has increased after reducing its own measures two weeks ago. So, although we have over four times the number of new infections as Germany and France, and although countries with much […]

Readers have mixed views on the media coverage of Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus. The way much the UK media – not including TNE – has rolled over for Boris and his government has astounded and depressed me. The lack of critical distance, even from the hitherto sensible, is dumbfounding. There seems a desire […]

Boris Johnson failed to provide a coherent plan for Brexit – is it any surprise he is floundering over the lifting of the coronavirus lockdown? So we are promised a comprehensive plan from the Johnson stable setting out how and when we might eventually come out of lockdown. If memory serves me right, we were […]

Government negligence over coronavirus comes as a result of Tory preoccupation with Brexit, and we are all paying the price. Thousands of deaths in the Covid-19 pandemic is a tragic if inevitable statistic. Dozens of deaths of NHS frontline staff and care workers, however, represents negligence of stupefying dimensions. Now that a leaked Department of […]

The government is once again dragging its feet over the coronavirus – this time over face masks. I just don’t get it. Why on earth is the government not advising us all to wear face-coverings? OK, not the masks needed by hospitals and front-line workers. But scarves or home-made masks. Imagine that a face-covering gave […]

Readers are sceptical that there will be any change from the Tory government after the coronavirus outbreak. For the past few years, politics has been dominated by matters of principle and personality: the principles of Brexit (pure sovereignty versus shared sovereignty); the personalities of Johnson, Corbyn and Farage. Now, all governments, will be judged on […]

Readers have their say about Boris Johnson and the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. It is an observable fact that organisations and even countries rapidly take on the characteristics of whoever is leading them at the time. The UK response to the COVID-19 crisis is no exception. Bluster, half-truths, unrealistic future projections and avoidances […]

Readers have their say on how the government’s handling of the coronavirus exposes the myths surrounding Brexit. One myth that has been exploded by coronavirus is the notion of British exceptionalism. The fiascos over ventilators, testing, PPE and the rules of lockdown has exposed the UK as not-really-that-special after all. How could such a country […]