You claim that as many as 4 million young people may be “locked out of voting in the EU referendum” because of changes to the system of electoral registration. Your story assumes that if they are not on the electoral roll currently being compiled they will not be able to vote in the referendum if it is held in either 2016 or 2017. That is not the case; you can apply to be on the electoral roll until only a few days before a vote is taken. (“Pro-EU campaigners fear 4 million young people could be prevented from voting”, News).
The article claims that universities and colleges previously automatically enrolled all their students, but surely they only enrolled those living in university-managed accommodation? And how many students are already enrolled at their parental home address? And how many will be living at a different address in 2017?
The more that are enrolled now, the larger the electorates of most of our cities will be, and that will be important in the allocation of constituencies when the Boundary Commission begin its next review (and potentially reduce the number of MPs to 600) in March 2016. That is why an enrolment drive now is crucial. If large numbers of students are enrolled in the next few weeks, however, it could mean that the new constituency map is distorted in its details because of the unknown level of double-counting of student voters (and the absence of comparable efforts to enrol non-student young people).
Ron Johnston
Salisbury
A fairer way to distribute profits
Gabriel Zucman is right to highlight the irresponsible use of tax havens to avoid tax (“Tax evasion by large corporations is on the rise – leading to greater inequality. Why won’t we stop it?”, Comment). He makes the sensible suggestion that profit should be allocated proportionately to the countries where sales take place and the appropriate tax calculated.
However, there is a serious problem with his proposal: manufacturing countries would not gain from a calculation based solely on sales. It would, however, be feasible to make the calculation of taxable profit by allocating half based on manufacturing costs and half based on sales value, which would produce a much fairer distribution.
Martin Wright
Sale
Cheshire
Time for truth over Syria
Some of what Andrew Mitchell and Jo Cox say about UK strategy for Syria makes sense (“British forces could help achieve an ethical solution in Syria”, Comment). Humanitarian aid to nearby countries distributed by British military must, however, take priority over bombs or boots on the ground in Syria. We have no mandate from the UN or Syrian government to bomb, dictate no-fly zones or annex territory as safe havens. Such action would be illegal unless sanctioned by the UN or Assad government. The latter is to be condemned for its use of barrel bombs, but the UK must take some of the blame for stoking peaceful protest into a civil war that provoked use of those bombs. We had a chance to talk with Russia and Assad in 2011, which we did not take. Britain was also a key catalyst for the rise of Islamic State through its invasion of Iraq. The Syrian tragedy will not end unless we are honest about the causes of that tragedy and our own culpability.
Professor Richard Woolley
Pickering
North Yorks
You can’t dress up this anomaly
The Royal Opera House’s new costume centre may well have provided an excuse to print photographs of some stunning costumes, but the ROH’s spokesman is being disingenuous in suggesting that there is a shortage of qualified costume designers and makers in the next generation.(“Inside the world’s best dressing-up box, where Pavarotti and Nureyev’s costumes still dazzle”, News).
Together with a few dozen colleagues, my daughter graduated this year from one of the country’s most prestigious theatre and screen costume courses at University of the Arts London (UAL). Permanent jobs in institutions such as the ROH are like gold dust and many of these talented young people will struggle to find work. Initially, it seemed that the ROH was missing a trick by not sending a recruitment team to UAL but it turns out that the new ROH course is accredited by none other than UAL itself.
If it is genuinely the case that the ROH and UAL believe that existing degree courses are not of sufficient quality to meet the needs of our leading cultural institutions, this truly has the makings of a scandal. UAL in particular has some explaining to do to its current and former students.
Name and address supplied
The church needs sunbeams
Your article on church lead theft was depressing. (“Suffolk churches count ‘devastating’ cost of lead roof thefts”’ News.)Many years ago, the interim chaplain of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, lamented English Heritage’s short-sightedness not to let the chapel be clad in solar panels. There is a huge, south-facing roof in every parish. If these south-facing roofs were stripped of lead by the church, sold in aid of the church and reroofed in solar panels, the local church would be quids in and every area would be generating nice, green electricity.
Katie Hawks
Polegate
East Sussex
