The young are protesting against inaction on climate change. It’s time for the old to join them

I take my hat off to Greta Thunberg and all young people like her who are willing to take direct action to prevent climate change. Yet I fear it’s still not enough to convince her parents’ and her grandparents’ generations that they need to suffer disruption, inconvenience and probably discomfort in order to save the planet for future generations (which is quite different to saving the planet, because Earth will happily survive without us).

The reason for my pessimism is that the only people who might be able to do something about it are those older generations in the “developed world”, and they will only sit up and take notice when climate havoc directly effects them. At present their addiction to fossil fuels makes them far too comfortable. Their tipping points for action won’t occur until long after climatic tipping points have passed their points of no return.

Patrick Cosgrove​
Bucknell

As the requirement that there should be no hard border between the north and south of Ireland is standing in the way of an acceptable deal between the UK and the EU, and a second referendum is seen as a betrayal of the people’s will, perhaps there is a compromise available.

That is, let just the people of Northern Ireland vote on whether or not they are happy to be in a stand-alone customs union with their neighbours in the south, thus allowing a border in the middle of the Irish Sea. The DUP, whose very name declares to the world their faith in democracy, would surely back anything that permits the will of the people of the province to be heard.

Life and politics in Northern Ireland differs in many ways from the rest of the UK (reference abortion, gay marriage), so for them to be economically aligned to the south, with the accord of a plebiscite, would surely be an acceptable solution.

Colin Burke
Manchester

I totally agree with Jenny Eclair that David Cameron should make a public apology to the nation for the EU Referendum and the political mess the Leave vote has triggered. With his father a judge, his wife an heiress, educated at Eton and Oxford, and by carelessly failing to set any parameters for a percentage majority win in the referendum, he and the rest of the political elite are not going to be stung by the “hornet’s nest” he so irresponsibly kicked in June 2016.

Clare Park
St Helens

It is possible to understand, though not condone, the Brexiteers’ promise of those evidently unattainable economic benefits, but their political reasoning before the referendum, and more so now, beggars belief.

Absolute national sovereignty can be asserted only in conditions of complete international political isolation and economic autarky. Once outside contacts and connections are established, from mere diplomatic relations with other states to joining international conventions and organisations (including WTO on which Brexiteers have pinned their hope), sovereignty is compromised.

Modern states concede some of their sovereign rights in exchange for political and economic benefits of inter-state cooperation and partnership. Stranger still is the notion that another Brexit referendum would undermine British democracy. Are we to understand that democracy restricts the electorate’s choice on any topic to one vote for life?

Hamid Elyassi
London

At the time of the referendum in 2016, I was living in the US and was thus unable to vote. Had I been able, I would have voted “remain” and my opinion has not changed.

I say this, because as a remain voter, I might be assumed to be in favour of a second referendum. But I’m just not sure it’s the right thing to do. I just don’t like ignoring a democratic vote.

But after watching a week of amazing events, none of which have moved us (as a nation) forward, I’m beginning to think that it may be the only answer. Everything we have seen this week, both in the UK and in the remainder of the EU, has been nothing but the games of self-interested politicians.

I don’t think anything this week has been about my personal interests, or those of my fellow citizens. For this reason, I’m beginning to think that the people who would vote for their personal interests should be given the chance. Otherwise, I think the only option is for us to forget the whole thing. We can’t go on ignoring the very pressing needs across the country. Very soon, this lack of attention will hurt us much more than staying in or leaving the EU will ever do.

Steve Mumby
Bournemouth

Surely the crisis facing us is so grave that we should all put our prejudices aside and start to pull together in the national interest. But no, everyone, Labour, the Greens, the nationalists, the Tories, the Remainers, the Leavers, the commentariat, all of us, seem to be happy to stay in our own little tribe, our own echo-chamber, playing our games and pursuing our agendas. It’s madness and it’s getting us nowhere.

Two years of arguing has changed nothing, the country is still divided and that division must be healed if a way forward is to be found. Resorting to “hard Brexit” or “hard Remain,” will only deepen the divisions and the conflict will continue for another generation.

It is time to stop the game playing, to listen to each other with respect and real engagement, to show humility, to genuinely seek to find common ground. The solution will be a compromise. Compromise is not weakness. It seeks to integrate all the passions and viewpoints, no one has a monopoly on being right and by compromising we may actually find the right way forward.

The country needs to find a safe place to stay for now: this will probably be some form of soft Brexit. It will not be perfect but it will give us a point from where we can move forward again. We have to dedicate ourselves to utilising our will and resources to make it work. That will require a new mindset, a renewal of our political parties and maybe the creation of new ones, and a renewal of our political institutions so that the voices of all our nations, regions, cities can be heard and their needs met.

There is so much to do with housing, infrastructure, education and so much to achieve. The EU will also evolve and no doubt a better working relationship will develop and if the national will deemed it there could be some re-integration. Let us compromise, come together and move on.

Stewart Luck
Cork