Stop saying 'we' voted for Theresa May – we did no such thing

Letter-writer Claire Bishop is generally correct about the quality of the current batch of politicians – especially those involved in negotiations over Brexit. As she says, we owe it to future generations to take this seriously.

But she is wrong in her assertion that “we voted in Theresa May”. We, that is the British electorate (apart from her constituents in Maidenhead), did no such thing. As the last candidate standing in an internal Conservative parliamentary party leadership contest, her appointment as Prime Minister was more of a coronation than an election.

That she is not adequately equipped for the role of Prime Minister of Great Britain becomes more and more apparent as the weeks go by.

Richard Fagence
Berkshire

The political narrative of the day goes that more moderate Conservative MPs are caught between the rabidly Europhobic wing of their own party on the right and Corbyn's Labour on the left, and they dare not risk upsetting the former for fear of starting a chain of events leading to the possible election to government of the latter.

However, given that polling for both parties has remained even, despite May's catastrophic election in June, were another to be arranged at this very moment the best Labour could hope to achieve would be a minority Government supported by the smaller parties in parliament. It is just as likely that it would return another minority Conservative Government with a new leader.

The more sensible fear then, naturally, would be that such a gamble might lead to a Brexiteer prime minister which would inevitably lead to a hard, no deal Brexit. However it would seem that very few moderate Conservatives are willing to openly oppose the Brexiteers and their hijacking of the current government, thus guaranteeing a hard, no deal Brexit.

It boggles the mind. Are these people are so partisan that they honestly believe that five years of a minority Corbyn-led government constantly hindered by a still considerably sized Conservative opposition would be worse for the country than a cliff-edge Brexit? Or, as seems more likely, are they instead worried that the policies advocated by Labour might actually work, showing the Conservatives up for the charlatanry they have perpetrated upon the British economy since Thatcher?

James Walker
Leeds

Alabama State Auditor disgracefully excuses the alleged sexual misdemeanours of Judge Roy Moore by suggesting that Mary was a teenager when she gave birth to Jesus. I can easily imagine the possible defence plea "but she is a virgin m'lud".

Can't even get his biblical quotes right.

G Forward
Stirling

In all the interviews I have read in the press regarding Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool including today's Independent, no one has mentioned the part Gloria Grahame played in the classic, greatest movie of all time It's a Wonderful Life. Surely she has to be remembered for her "tart with a heart" Violet, whose life is "saved" by George Bailey played by the incomparable James Stewart.

Adrienne Fitzwilliam
Tunbridge Wells

Having read the report in yesterday’s Independent on how, according to scientists, “grandparents are posing serious risks to children”, I am starting to feel guilty about how I have treated mine.

I taught one to ride a horse; she might have fallen off and broken her neck. I taught another how to plant potatoes; he might have caught Weil’s disease from a recently urinating rat. I instructed another to walk on his own through the village to a neighbour’s house; suppose he’d met a paedophile? For the youngest I built a giant palisade out of old pallets; he’ll probably get a splinter and catch tetanus.

Patrick Cosgrove
Shropshire