Are we really ‘stuck with Donald Trump’? I don’t think so...

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

‘Colorado is just the start...’ (Reuters)

We may dislike Trump; however, “we’re stuck with him for the time being” Eric Garcia, writes in The Independent. I disagree.

With Colorado standing up to Trump and taking him off November’s ballot for president, Maine is following suit, albeit for a slightly different reason.

The point is: according to the US Constitution, being involved in an insurrection – like Trump was on 6 January 2021 – disqualifies you from running for president. Furthermore, we are moving toward a more politically correct climate, with people like Harvard president Claudine Gay resigning after her controversial Supreme Court testimony. There is no place for Trump here.

Angus West

Address supplied

Short-term solutions from both sides

I have sympathy for the striking junior doctors, not only because I once was one, but because their action is in the interest of the NHS. The service needs to attract and keep more staff. And that means that all its employees should be fairly paid. Are they? No.

Some of the necessary staff of all grades in the NHS, and in the care sector generally, could be found among the large numbers of people seeking the right to live here. We need more immigrants, and more people to be employed in rapidly processing their applications. Is that happening? No. The government prefers to pretend that reducing immigration is desirable and that its attempts to do so are effective.

This is a delusion shared by the Labour Party. Is either of the largest parties willing to denounce Brexit? No. Will either of them admit that more money is required and that, realistically, it can only be acquired from a fair system of taxation, whereby the poor pay less and the rich more, in some cases very much more? No, they will not. The Conservatives are even threatening to reduce inheritance tax!

Both the largest parties are wedded to the idea of lowering taxes because their objective is the short-term one of attracting donations and winning electoral support, when their main focus should be to improve the living conditions of the people. There will be no escape from this attitude unless our voting system is reformed and democratised so that we can be governed by a minority, if not a frank coalition. And the only way to achieve that is for enough of us to vote neither Conservative nor Labour at the next election.

Susan Alexander

South Gloucestershire

Put Tice on ice

Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK, is desperate to be heard, yet his claims about Labour are unfounded. Note: the entirety of Labour’s fiscal approach will be fully costed, no other party has claimed that in any sincere way and Starmer has reiterated the hard times ahead due to Tory failure.

Tice needs to pipe down and focus on reality, not fabrication. Currently, he comes across as desperate. That won’t turn heads or votes.

Dale Hughes

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2023’s silver linings

While last year seemed to be one of doom and gloom in the world, from ongoing war in Ukraine, conflict in Gaza and the cost of living crisis, there was in fact much to celebrate.

Medically, we are seeing a pace of progress that has not been witnessed for a century. Artificial intelligence and 3D printing provide amazing opportunities, and thanks (in part) to Covid-19 and the vaccines devised to tackle this, there also is the opportunity to help eradicate certain types of cancer.

The rise of renewables also became unstoppable, and according to a report by the International Energy Agency, they will provide half the world’s electricity by 2030. The year also saw the Amazon rainforest breathe a little easier, with rates of deforestation down more than half compared to last year. This follows efforts to halt tree loss, most notably in Brazil.

The list of endangered species continued to grow in 2023, but some creatures bounced back from the brink. One of them was the scimitar-horned oryx, which until 2023 was listed as “extinct in the wild”, but has been successfully reintroduced to Chad using captive animals. Other notable successes include Scotland’s surging golden eagle population and the return of the bittern to England.

There were also notable wins for the LGBT+ community as a clutch of countries broke down some of the barriers to same-sex partnerships. For example, Nepal registered its first gay marriage in November, becoming one of the first Asian nations to do so. Latvia, a laggard in relatively liberal Europe, also voted to allow same-sex civil partnerships.

So, while for many of us last year may seem one to be despondent about, there were some notable positives to be celebrated.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh

Britain (should) mean business

Britons have been responsible over the years for many great modern inventions; but we often fail to exploit them properly, and we allow others to profit from our originality, as Chris Blackhurst points out.

Dyson is a rare example in Britain of an entrepreneur inventor founding a major international brand, over which he has retained complete control, without being beholden to third-party investors or under threat from takeovers. Even successful start-ups require substantial development funds, and we have nothing like Germany’s state-sponsored Landesbanken to offer long-term financial support for new business. Our university spin-offs develop remarkable innovations, but then allow American companies to move in on them. Consistently, over the years, politicians fail to intervene when important companies are threatened. Government never develops long-term strategies to make the UK a country more friendly to inventors, entrepreneurs and start-up businesses.

Most voters have no reason to be familiar with these issues, being not unreasonably more concerned about policies more obviously affecting them and their families. As a result, politicians are never going to focus on business issues that have no vote-winning potential – unless a factory in an individual MP’s own constituency is at risk.

The lack of long-term strategic government planning over many years, to create a more business-friendly environment (isolated gimmicks aside), hardly suggests that either the supposedly business-supporting Tories or Labour have any serious plans to change the situation.

Gavin Turner

Norfolk