Abolish the House of Lords and replace it with this

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It is a depressing state of affairs that the voting power of pensioners directs policies of the future (PA Archive)

To abolishing the House of Lords, I say “yes please!” The House of Lords has been hugely discredited and abused by successive politicians of all colours for years.

Let’s put a young person’s chamber in its place, limited to a maximum age of 25. Let it be a place where the policies of the future are debated and considered by those who will be truly affected. Let eligibility be to those of 16 to 18 years, and of exceptional abilities in any field – except for politics.

It is a depressing state of affairs that the voting power of pensioners directs policies of the future. No wonder young people have little interest in voting.

Alastair Duncan

Winchester

Why Nigel Farage?

Rather than apologise for the behaviour of some of their students during a talk by Nigel Farage, Eton College needs to explain why Nigel Farage was there at all.

Was this a one-off, or was it a planned series of visits by politicians representing a balance of views? What other controversial figures have been invited to present their views to Britain’s “future leaders”?

It is difficult to imagine that this would have happened at a state school.

Ron Mure

Mansfield

Hostile environment to blame

The Home Office has issued “heartfelt condolences” following the death of a man at the notorious processing centre in Manston, Kent.

The man, who arrived in the UK by small boat on 12 November, died on the morning of Saturday 19 November. The hypocrisy of the Home Office is breathtaking.

The truth is that the Home Office under Theresa May, Amber Rudd, Sajid Javid, Priti Patel and now Suella Braverman, has implemented its “hostile environment” – a deliberate policy specifically designed to make the lives of refugees and asylum-seekers in the UK as miserable as possible.

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Braverman, the current home secretary, admits she “dreams” and “obsesses” about deporting refugees to Rwanda. A day after the racist terrorist attack on a refugee centre in Dover, she made a speech in the Commons in which she used the language of the far-right to denounce refugees as “criminals” carrying out an “invasion” of the UK.

Several Tory MPs are using parliamentary privilege to name hotels housing asylum-seekers. This is nothing less than incitement for violent attacks to be carried out against them.

No one should be fooled by the crocodile tears now being shed by the Home Office over the death of the refugee at Manston.

Sasha Simic

London