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Sir, Louise Haigh is entirely correct that the government requires an economic reset (“Fight off Reform with higher taxes and spending, PM told”, news; “PM must show country what party stands for”, news, May 5). Voters understand that in order to bring about an improvement in public services and thus an improvement in their lives, the money has to come from somewhere.
Sadly by boxing themselves in and vowing not to increase income tax, Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves were forced to aim at the worst possible targets, pensioners and welfare recipients. The government should have the courage to admit these mistakes, restore those cuts and instead raise the level of income tax, particularly the higher rates. Rather than seeing such a step as weakness, voters would see that at last we had a government that listened and was prepared to change course when this was clearly the right thing to do.
John Grossman
Northwood, Middx
Sir, The levels of support for the winning candidates in the six mayoral elections last week, as a percentage of the total electorate in each area, were all below 13 per cent. These percentages reflect, in part, the decision of the previous government to revert to a first-past-the-post system for mayoral elections. They also reflect the fact that local elections have traditionally had low turnouts and we now appear to have a five-party system. For mayors to have greater credibility they need to represent wider levels of support from across their electorates. If the Alternative Vote system were reinstated for mayoral elections, the winning candidate would be required to get, in the final round, at least 50 per cent of votes cast. That would be good for democracy.
Alun Evans
London SE10
Sir, We should learn from Australians and make voting compulsory. In our optional democracy, elections are decided by turnout, determined by a level of outrage. No wonder politicians rant about woke teachers, benefit scroungers, tax-dodging billionaires, developments in backyards and immigrants lounging in luxury hotels. How else can they get voters from their sofas into the booths? While there may be something in any of these issues, none is the key to making Britain great again. If turnout were guaranteed we might be able to weigh up realistic policies and hear less populism.
Michael Hamilton
Godalming, Surrey
Sir, John Marriott observed (letters, May 5) that Harmar Nicholls won Peterborough by three votes at the 1966 election. Harold St Maur must have felt unlucky in Exeter in 1910. After the first count he led his Tory rival Henry Duke by four votes, a margin he maintained after a recount. After an election petition, however, Duke was found to have won by one vote. John Addison also won by that margin in Ashton-under-Lyne in 1886 but only after a tie with the Liberal Alexander Rowley was broken by the returning officer casting his vote for the incumbent Tory.
Patrick Kidd
London SE9
Sir, Reform politicians have suggested that migrants should be moved out of hotels into tents. Let their MPs and council leaders tell constituents about migrant tented communities in their cities, towns and villages. The acronym Nimby comes to mind.
Allan Steven
Stratford upon Avon, Warks
The next pope
Sir, The Catholic Church has failed historically to prevent and root out child sexual violence from within its ranks. I am a survivor of such abuse by a priest.
Pope Francis spent much of his papacy issuing apologies for clerical sex abuse. His successor must do more (“Favourites to be next pope ‘failed to tackle abuse’”, world, May 5). The 135 cardinal electors must ensure the church’s next leader is committed to a public position of zero tolerance of abuse by any of its members.
The next pope must update canon law to adopt a zero tolerance rule that identifies sexual abuse as a grave crime against the life, dignity and freedom of victims. It must be applied without exception, and sufficient information released to demonstrate compliance.
He must establish an independent compliance agency to investigate, document and publicly identify persons of authority in the church who contributed through their negligence or intentional acts to conceal abusive priests.
This conclave must select a new pope with the commitment and the record to show they have never and will never tolerate the abuse of children within the church.
As a member of the Brave Movement, a global campaign by survivors and allies working to end this violence, I know we need more than apologies — we need change.
Denise Buchanan
Co-founder, Ending Clergy Abuse; CEO, Faith Has Feet; Los Angeles
Shakespeare’s words
Sir, It is difficult to know to what extent Shakespeare’s choice of language was influenced by his contact with “ordinary people, particularly women” (“Bard credited for women’s words, doth protest Countdown lady”, news, May 5). In fact, despite the restrictions of his background (his parents were unable to write), his use of language was seminally influenced by his classical education and courtly association. Hence the approval of those who had bought into reputable styles of writing. In 1590 the dramatist Henry Chettle was prompted to say that Shakespeare’s “grace in writing” had won him widely inclusive esteem. In 1598 Francis Meres, a scholar, concurred: “The Muses would speak with Shakespeare’s fine-filed phrase, if they would speak English”.
David Day
Ackworth, W Yorks
Net-zero warning
Sir, Over the past few months we have begun to see the huge cost of the UK’s net-zero policy, expounded by Ed Miliband, exacerbated by closures and excessive taxation on our North Sea industry. This policy is damaging to the economy, industry, security, investment and jobs.
Our North Sea reserves and new technologies are not mutually exclusive (“North Sea still vital in the rush for net zero”, comment, May 5). Not utilising Britain’s North Sea reserves to maximum economic recovery in parallel with building new energy sources is a policy imposed without scrutiny or logic and based wholly on ideology. It is, as Sir Tony Blair and many others have commented, a policy doomed to failure.
In Sir Keir Starmer’s own words, “the lesson of these elections isn’t that the country needs more ideological zealotry” (news, May 3). This applies to his own party as much as it applies to others.
Tony Craven Walker
Founder, Serica Energy plc
Royals reunited?
Sir, Professor Tanya Byron and Libby Purves (Times2 & comment, May 5) eloquently summed up Prince Harry’s dilemma and the royal family’s bravest and kindest means of solving it. I’m sure the nation would love to see those five children playing together.
Anne Chester
London SW19
Sir, Rather than expecting taxpayers in a country he is no longer part of to pay for his protection (news & leading article, May 3; letters, May 5), Prince Harry could have used the millions he has spent in trying to achieve this on hiring his own security guards.
Sheila Taylor
Pevensey Bay, E Sussex
Sir, The difficulty I see in the prodigal son analogy is that in the biblical story the son returned of his own volition and full of repentance.
Peter Castle
Gillingham, Kent
Crucible & snooker
Sir, On Monday the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield concluded yet another highly successful Snooker World Championship (sport, May 5). The venue has hosted this iconic event for the past 49 years, but next year might well be the end of an era. Barry Hearn and his son Eddie have hinted that they are thinking of taking the event to Saudi Arabia and talk of opening it up to a wider audience.
This would not simply be a loss to the city of Sheffield, but to the country as a whole. Wherever in the world the promoters should take the event, it’s absolutely certain that the BBC would not obtain the franchise, and the millions of people who enjoy watching snooker from the Crucible annually would be denied access.
The nature of the venue is part of the very ethos, experience and charm for both those there in person and those watching on television. Let us hope that with the support of the UK government a mutually beneficial solution can be reached.
Lord Blunkett
House of Lords
Marking VE Day
Sir, On May 8, 1945, my father was a cipher operator in Italy with the 5th Corps Signals. On VE Day (letters, May 5) he wrote a brief and sad note on the back of a postcard with a picture of the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, Udine. His memoir read: “Location outside Udine — no celebrations, no beer, no nothing, plenty of work.”
John Sissons
Colne, Cambridgeshire
Sir, At a family lunch some years ago, when it was permissible for those involved to finally speak about Bletchley Park, my late mother who was in the WAAF was asked by me and my siblings what she had done there. Her response, after a long pause and huge anticipation from us, was: “Well, we played the occasional tennis when possible.”
Diana Barrington Holt
Lambourn, Berkshire
Sir, Why was London the only city to see the flypast for VE Day? Coventry, Bristol and Manchester, to name just three, suffered equally from the Blitz and made very major contributions to Britain’s war effort.
Nick Booker
Kenilworth, Warks
Club stalwarts
Sir, You report that two much-liked and respected employees of Manchester United FC who have served the club for nearly 30 and nearly 50 years respectively are at risk of redundancy as a cost-saving measure (sport, May 3). The average first team salary is more than £4.4 million a year. If those players were prepared to pig it on a mere £4 million a year, perhaps the club would not have to show such inhumanity and callousness to its loyal, longstanding employees.
Robert Rhodes KC
London WC2
War pigeons
Sir, The pigeons in our garden eat the plum tree leaves and immature plums (notebook, May 3; letters, May 5). I was told recently that a toy snake attached to the tree scares them away. I bought some and we have had no more pigeons eating the leaves or fruit.
Christine Strode
Emsworth, Hants
Playing with fire
Sir, More than 60 years ago, I tried my best to learn the recorder, practising diligently, but unmusically, at home (news, Apr 30; letter, May 3). One day I lost it and got into great trouble at school. It was only years later that my normally placid mother confessed to hiding and then burning it on the sitting room fire. She said my efforts set her teeth on edge.
Sally Hudson
Castle Rising, Norfolk
Powerful deterrent
Sir, The US president’s proposal to reopen Alcatraz (thetimes.com, May 5), at present operating as a tourist attraction, as a working prison is genius. Perhaps we should follow his lead and repurpose some of our own popular destinations to ease the over-crowding problem. HMP Chessington World of Adventures would surely act as a powerful deterrent to any would-be criminal.
Mary Robey
London N7
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