Readers discuss the diversity of prior government leaders, Boris Johnson’s failings in COVID and nuclear energy (Picture: Toby Melville – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments
Is it 'racism and misandry' to say next Labour leader shouldn't be a white man?
JWA Caley (MetroTalk, Mon) says ‘diverse leadership is successful leadership’ and the next leader of the Labour Party cannot be a white man ‘for the sake of our society, and for the sake of ending decades of rank hypocrisy’.
Putting aside the blatant, shameless racism and misandry, I’ll respond to their distaste for another white male Labour Party leader by asking them if they would find a non-white male, white female or non-white female party leader just as distasteful if they, too, turned out to be as useless and unpopular as a white male Labour Party leader – which (given the general make-up of today’s entire political class) seems extremely likely.
And would JWA Caley accept another white male as Labour Party leader if that person proved to be competent and popular – or are they against a white male Labour Party leader purely on principle? If so, that’s discriminatory and childish.
I don’t care what colour or sex a political party leader or prime minister is and I’m sure the majority of British people feel the same.
But I do expect party leaders and prime ministers to serve the country rather than simply serve themselves or their backbenchers.
And if they become so unpopular that they become toxic (as Starmer has become) then they should step down or be replaced, regardless of whether they are white, black, brown, male or female. Stefan Badham, Portsmouth
This reader says that female leaders have been the problem (Picture: Peter Summers/Getty Images)
‘The only general election winner we’ve had who was neither white nor male was Margaret Thatcher’, says reader
The Conservatives lost their majority under the ‘diverse leadership’ of Theresa May, Liz Truss’ term was a fiasco, Rishi Sunak led them to their worst ever defeat and Kemi Badenoch seems to be leading them to a new nadir.
Nor did the Liberal Democrats exactly shine under Jo Swinson.
In fact, the only general election winner we’ve had who was neither white nor male was Margaret Thatcher.
Which Labour women does JWA Caley think would have been more successful leaders? Mark Taha, London
Reader says Johnson’s Covid failings were ‘utter incompetence’
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Send in yours and Metro's Senior Politics Reporter Craig Munro will answer it in an upcoming edition of our weekly politics newsletter. Email [email protected] or submit your question here.
The comments on Boris Johnson’s handling of the Covid pandemic (MetroTalk, Mon) sum up public opinion at the time – it was a display of utter incompetence from the PM.
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry finds that more could’ve been done sooner.
Many of us, including myself, were contacting our local MPs in late-January 2020, asking them to advise No.10 to stop all travel to and from China, in light of the impending Chinese New Year celebration.
Instead, thousands of Chinese –including many from Wuhan – were allowed to travel and enter the UK.
In late January, the UK’s first Covid case was reported in York – a Chinese woman visiting from Wuhan! At this point, many UK doctors, including my neighbour (a professor at Royal Marsden hospital) were warning the government that the NHS would be unable to cope in a pandemic.
Utilising public perception and the tunnel vision of NHS doctors may have spared us much of the agony and deaths that ensued.
However with Johnson busy making mayhem, health secretary Matt Hancock having his hands full with an illicit affair and No.10 advisor Dominic Cummings concentrating on crude WhatsApp messages, the ensuing calamity was inevitable. Will lessons be learned? I highly doubt it. Jude, Sussex
This reader says ‘Utilising public perception and the tunnel vision of NHS doctors may have spared us much of the agony and deaths that ensued’ (Picture: Chang Wei/China News Service via Getty Images)
‘Maybe we immigrants should pay less tax given that we will not get any benefit out of paying it’ says reader
Under home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s plans, only British citizens will be entitled to welfare benefits.
As an EU immigrant who has been here in the UK for 28 years and paid tax ever since, what would happen if I had a life-changing accident tomorrow and had to rely on benefits?
Why did I pay taxes for 28 years? To pay for the Universal Credit for a British family with three kids that has never worked and spends the day watching TV?
Maybe we immigrants should pay less tax given that we will not get any benefit out of paying it and my money to thee Treasury is only going to pay for benefits for the British?
Seriously, why would I be paying taxes if I cannot get anything back out of those taxes?
Maybe I should go into the dark economy and get a cash-in-hand job. Pedro, Hammersmith
Does nuclear power provide the clean, reliable energy needed to replace fossil fuels?
The final report from the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce on Monday recognises that an ‘overly complex regulatory system has contributed to the relative decline of the UK’s ability to deliver faster and cheaper nuclear power’.
Encouragingly, the government welcomes the report’s conclusions – the need for ‘radical reform’ – and is committed to delivering faster and cheaper nuclear projects as part of a ‘golden age’ of new nuclear.
This is very important, as the recent COP30 in Brazil highlighted the need to take serious action on climate change – and nuclear power is vital for doing so.
Nuclear power provides the clean, reliable energy needed to replace fossil fuels without generating the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.
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Nuclear power also has very high energy density – meaning that far less land and resources are required than for other energy sources.
Also at COP30, the global ambition to triple nuclear capacity by 2050 moved from being an aspiration to an achievable reality with more than 30 countries committed and the likes of Senegal and Rwanda aiming to place nuclear at the centre of Africa’s energy future.
While there have been setbacks, such as Donald Trump’s scientifically ignorant denial of climate change, there is also good news as more nuclear power will reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Mark Dawes, London
This reader says nuclear power is the answer (Picture: Getty Images)
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