The ghosts of Gaza will haunt Biden and Starmer at elections this autumn

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

The lack of criticism regarding Gaza will have a detrimental effect on both Starmer and Biden’s electoral chances (Reuters)

Concerns over President Biden’s age are centre stage following recent findings about his handling of documents. No amount of Democrat hollering about his decency versus Donald Trump’s obvious criminality (and moral vileness) will lessen this.

Here in the UK, after the unnecessary public ditching of environmental pledges, Keir Starmer risks narrowing perceptions of the big political difference between himself and lame duck Rishi Sunak.

For both the US Democrats and UK Labour, problems at the ballot box have always pivoted on voter turnout.

America’s moral identity would not survive another Trump evisceration of democracy. The UK certainly cannot survive politically, economically or socially, another calamitous and corrupt Conservative government.

However, many of the folk who actually pay attention, go out and vote for either the US Democratic Party or the UK Labour Party are exactly the people who pay attention to other things. There is nothing, other than global environmental catastrophe, bigger than the horrors of Gaza right now.

The lack of criticism from both the US and the UK regarding the deaths of innocent civilians in Gaza will have a detrimental effect on both Starmer and Biden’s electoral chances as some of their natural supporters will just not be able to stomach voting for them.

They may not matter to Starmer or Biden now but the ghosts of Gaza will haunt them this autumn…

Amanda Baker

Edinburgh

The perfect cannot be the enemy of the good

Those people castigating Labour for stepping back from their original pledges around spending on green issues should perhaps consider the saying “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

So, like letters contributor Andy Vant, I also care but I care about seeing the back of this Tory government more. All the while the Conservatives stay in office, there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of any environmentally friendly measures being pursued. A Labour administration will at least do what it can when the money is available.

Stephen Lawrence

Enfield

Economical with the truth...

Conservative politicians repeatedly claim that they are the party of economic competence but is that true? This is the party that enacts untested economic policy for reasons of ideology or perceived party political advantage, often with damaging consequences.

The constraints on councils replacing social housing, which was previously sold under the 1980 “Right to Buy” scheme, has helped exacerbate the continuing housing crisis. During the Eighties, the country reaped enormous economic benefits from North Sea oil but the government failed to establish a sovereign wealth fund which would have ensured those benefits were felt more widely and for longer.

In the late Eighties, the country experienced a sudden rise in interest rates to 15 per cent, resulting in a deep recession. In the mid-Eighties, in conjunction with Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher deregulated the financial markets with dramatic effect, creating the conditions that enabled the international banking crisis of 2007-08. This, in turn, enabled the austerity policies of David Cameron and George Osborne which may best be described as short-term gain for long-term pain.

Privatised utilities, railways and the Post Office are failing consumers. Conservative governments failed to prepare for the economic damage that Brexit would inevitably inflict, billions were lost to fraud during Covid and everyone will remember the damage caused by the Liz Truss/Kwasi Kwarteng Budget of 2022. Further, despite record taxation, Conservative governments have failed to invest properly in the future.

Economic competence or economical with the truth? The former claim should be consigned to the waste bin along with other often repeated Conservative claims, including “We’re all in it together” and “We’re following the science.”

Steve Athey

York

Sticking in the craw

Michael Matheson’s resignation letter is a paean of praise to himself, with claims about having introduced “world-leading” domestic abuse legislation and Scotwind leasing, although the latter brought in far less revenue than comparable schemes in the rest of the UK.

What really sticks in my craw is the complete absence of any vestige of contrition, let alone apology. And to cap it all, he has the brass neck to sign off with the Salmondesque “Yours for Scotland”. How dare he? As far as I am concerned, he has disgraced Scotland and, apart from his obvious sins, has wasted people’s time, and therefore our money, on prevarications that have been investigated.

It seems to me that Mr Matheson speaks only for himself, and without much self-awareness.

Jill Stephenson 

Edinburgh