Ken Clarke has suggested a hung parliament would lead to chaos and that subsequent elections will not make any difference (Chaos of second vote, 4 May). However, one in five local government councils are likely to be hung, including Nottinghamshire, where Clarke’s constituency is. Does he think chaos rules throughout local government?
Dr Jon Mulberg
Felixstowe, Suffolk
• If there is no overall majority and lots of wrangling to form the next government, will Nigel Farage and Jeremy Paxman have to apologise to the Belgians?
Martin Cooper
Bromley, Kent
• Politicians should accept the democratic decision of the electors. Most want either Conservative or Labour, so they should grow up, get on with it and work together in a coalition. These two parties at heart agree more than they disagree.
Martin Whillock
York
• Not only will the MPs returning to parliament have job security (Letters, 5 May), they will be entitled to an 11% pay rise as recommended by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. How many of the new MPs will refuse this rise? Perhaps a wallchart could be produced listing those that do and those that don’t.
Malcolm Morrison
Kendal, Cumbria
• Your excellent editorial on education policy (5 May) reminded me of a comment by the president of the Royal Society about the government’s badger cull policy: that it was an example of policy-based evidence.
Peter Greaves
London
• As a child growing up in Sunderland during the 1950s, it was customary on election day to roll up a newspaper and tie it to a length of string. This was then used to hit people on the streets who proclaimed they were voting for any party other than the one which your parents supported. To my eternal shame I never hit a Tory voter.
Dr Derek Middlemiss
Newark, Nottinghamshire
