Forget Corbyn and Cameron – when is George Osborne going to resign?

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George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (BBC)

Never mind the Prime Minister, or the Leader of the Opposition. When is the Chancellor of the Exchequer going to resign?

Following the abandonment of the illiterate proposal to run a budget surplus as an end in itself, the Government now has no economic policy whatever. Imagine if John McDonnell had said that he intended to tax more than he spent, and in perpetuity.

But remember: the policy that has been abandoned is supported by every Labour MP who voted to express no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn. Indeed, not that anyone could have been expected to have noticed, it was in fact the policy of the Labour Party in the twilight period between last year’s general election and the election of Corbyn as Labour Leader.

If Corbyn’s enemies had their way, then it would be the policy of the Labour Party again. Even though it had been abandoned by the Government.

David Lindsay
County Durham

We've already been told who the next Prime Minister will be

I for one am relieved that we have finally settled this sovereignty question.

We have wrested it away from those shifty Europeans and can now sleep easy in the knowledge that it is in the safe hands of Rupert Murdoch and Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail. I had always hoped it was so but did not dare to believe it.

Then this week no less an authority than Mrs Gove has made it clear that no one can stand for leadership of the Conservatives, and hence the country, without the backing of Messrs Murdoch and Dacre.

Some have suggested that the whole leadership process would be a lot quicker and more efficient if they just told us who the leader is to be. But others have pointed out that it’s important to maintain the illusion that the people have had a say in things.

Alan Burditt
Address supplied

The referendum needs to be reconsidered

In my business, which involves teaching at a UK university, if people answer the wrong question in an exam then they get no marks and their answer doesn’t count. A similar criterion should surely be applied to a referendum that proposes to determine the future of the United Kingdom. Parliament needs to meet and consider the nation's answers and it would be an abrogation of the responsibilities of MPs simply to accept the percentage score at face value.

Wilton Catford
Guildford

Jeremy Corbyn has demonstrated his leadership skills

It is ironic that the plot to oust Jeremy Corbyn has provided him with a platform to demonstrate the very leadership qualities that the plotters claim he lacks. Mr Corbyn’s extraordinary courage, loyalty, tenacity and determination in the face of an orchestrated campaign of intimidation and bullying is inspiring and thousands of us are delighted and proud to be led by such a man.

Andy Halewood
Bradford on Avon

War commemorations and the EU debate are at odds

There is a curious juxtaposition between the solemn ceremonies to remember the Battle of the Somme, with exhortations that “we must remember them” with the current debate on membership of the EU. My vote was strongly influenced by a Ted Heath speech to the Oxford Union in the early Seventies where he asserted that both world wars started as European civil wars and so we needed to create such interdependency between nations that war could never happen again.

How ironic if the departure of the United Kingdom were to lead to a Europe of competing nation states and to encourage the rise of those with extreme nationalist views.

Arthur Streatfield
Bath

We need more realistic war commemorations

Most people have no first-hand experience of war.

Military commemorations often feature a gun salute but, while these are respectful and in line with convention, they are anaemic and uninspiring. I feel that commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War should be marked decisively differently.

The UK’s four capital cities (and maybe others too) should each assemble a hundred or more pieces of heavy artillery (all categories including modern SPGs) and in the one hundred seconds before the moment of armistice they should sustain continuous rapid fire of full military load blanks – perhaps ten to fifteen rounds per gun. At close quarters the sound would be cataclysmic, terrifying and a much more fitting prelude to the following silence.

The contrast would be seared into the hearts and minds of those attending more tellingly than could be achieved with any mere words and pomp and ceremony.

Steve Ford
Haydon Bridge