We are used to hearing about Jeremy Corbyn’s “mandate”, referring to the votes of party members and supporters. Richard Burgon takes this one step further when he speaks of “honest, decent Labour party members – the people who made all of these other people MPs” (“Corbyn supporters must not be portrayed as thugs, says ally Richard Burgon,” News).
Honest and decent they may be, but Labour party members do not appoint MPs: the rest of us elect them. Look at the numbers: more than 9m of us voted Labour in 2015. Someone with time to spare can tot up how many voted for successful candidates – say it’s half that number. That’s still an order of magnitude more than the 420,000 who voted in the leadership election. Where does the democratic mandate sit – with Corbyn and his 40 supporting MPs or with the other 172?
John Filby
Ashover, Derbyshire
I do wish Blairites such as David Blunkett would realise that we are not still in the 1990s and that New Labour is long since dead and buried.
Far from Corbyn’s supporters being largely the comfortable middle classes “protected from the consequences of their actions”, the majority at a rally I attended were the kind of ordinary people who had seen their enthusiasm for Labour ebb during the Blair years.
Now, however, they have become regenerated by a leader who wants such radical measures as a £10 an hour minimum wage, the end of zero hours contracts and taking the railways into public ownership.
That’s why 54% of Labour supporters back Corbyn to be re-elected.
Tim Mickleburgh
Grimsby
Pay dairy farmers proper price
While I applaud Iain Climie’s letter, I would add some caveats (“We would still be able to feed ourselves in a rewilded Britain”, Letters).
As we devote a lot of growing to animal feed instead of produce for us to eat in the first place, we use land in a somewhat foolish way. We can probably support a population of about 35m growing our own food in the UK, but, as we are 65m or so in number, we are dependent on the rest of the world.
We could start to pay farmers a proper price for milk and produce instead of cheap imports and keep small farms running instead of lots of them going out of business because supermarkets are greedy and successive governments do nothing to protect our farmers.
It’s about time that farm subsidies became a thing of the past and that produce is sold at a realistic price; that will require the public not to want everything cheaply and for choice to represent fruits and vegetables from the UK. At present, we use electricity to keep produce for months or years before it gets to shops and people’s tables.
Martin Sandaver
Hay-on-Wye
Relieving railway congestion
Catherine Bennett really does need to get the message that HS2 is about capacity – relieving the massive congestion that exists on the West Coast main line (“HS2 and the garden bridge are vanity projects – it’s not too late to scrap both”, Comment).
There is, though, room for improvement. Strategically, even with Brexit, it needs a direct link to HS1, so we lucky inhabitants of the Midlands and the north can avoid London altogether on our way to mainland Europe. Further, huge savings could be made by dropping the plans to rip up Camden and to provide a central London interchange at Old Oak Common using Crossrail. The present plans to make through passengers walk from Euston to St Pancras have little merit.
Roy Boffy
Walsall
Children robbed of schooling
I read your article in last Sunday’s Observer (“Revealed: how taxpayers fund large wages and lavish perks of academy school chiefs”, News) and watched the Channel 4 Dispatches programme How School Bosses Spend Your Millions. I am disgusted how much money that is meant for the education of our children is being taken by these greedy leaders. Prior to retirement, I was the headteacher of a large primary school and had responsibility for the budget. I had to present regular financial reports to the governors and local authority staff.
It would seem from the programme that trustees of some academies are failing to take their responsibilities seriously, are benefiting financially by supplying services to their schools and are not accountable to anyone. I thought Margaret Hodge was excellent on the programme, but is she the only MP who has concerns? I have written to Justine Greening and my MP and urge others to do the same. The money is being taken from our children!
Clive Chenery
London
Questionable need for pistols
It is reassuring that one must undergo psychological evaluation before being permitted legally to own a semi-automatic 9mm Glock pistol in Germany (“Stringent firearms controls are result of a series of attacks”, News,). Presumably the evaluation could reasonably consist of one question: “Do you want to own a semi-automatic 9mm Glock?”, any answer other than “No” disqualifying the applicant on the grounds of mental unsuitability.
Martin Edwards
London
