They add insult to injury by bailing out failures from the public purse, despite the spin of transferring risk to the private sector.Disillusioned Labour voters should tactically switch allegiance or abstain in the election, in the interest of a small Labour majority to hasten Blair's long-overdue retirement. It seems that the only recourse Conservative voters would have is to contact these web-sites and offer their votes in a neat spoiling exercise.E M HENDERSON Carter's Clay, Hampshire Leaving Lebanon Sir: The assassination of Rafik Hariri is a tragedy for Lebanon and must not be ignored by the West. Even if the Tories were to win, their policies would surely be forced to the left of New Labour's, by an effective, Blair-free opposition and a slender majority.JOHN A BOLTON Potters Bar, HertfordshireSir: Why do you perpetuate the term apathy when writing of the attitude of one-time Labour voters to the Blair government? Antipathy, perhaps, but fury or scorn would fit the bill just as well.PATRICIA THOMAS London NW1Sir: It was no surprise to read the letter from Steve Travis (15 February) suggesting a vote swap between Lib Dems and Labour, as this sneaky and underhand tactic has been employed by the Lib Dems in Romsey for years. They're letting rapacious, private companies make indecent profits out of our public sector, with lucrative PFI rip-offs on hospitals, schools and transport. In other words, for every five people who voted Labour, seven voted for other parties and eight abstained. This time around another landslide is predicted (report, 16 February), but probably on an even lower share of a lower turnout.How much further can this process go before this system of "minority rule" loses all legitimacy? Britain's crude winner-takes-all voting system, which worked, albeit in a rough and ready way, in a two-party race, is just not up to the job of representing a multi-party democracy.NINA TEMPLE Director, Make Votes Count London SE1Sir: Here is a seventh reason not to vote New Labour, to add to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's list ("Never mind those six pledges - here are six reasons why you shouldn't vote Labour", 14 February).
Young people want to be inspired by a grander vision, and to hear more about the policies that will protect our environment, redistribute wealth, and eliminate poverty. They want to hear about the New Deal, working tax credits and overseas aid, because these issues still reveal a real distinction between the main parties.JAMES C BUCKLEY Thorpe Hesley, South YorkshireSir: At the last election Labour won a landslide victory with just 40.7 per cent of a 59 per cent turnout. So we have apathy while the Labour Party focuses our attention on the very issues that don't set it apart - the areas where even the Conservatives seem to show some promise.But this alienates important groups of voters, like the Young Labour delegates who will shape our political future. These are the concerns of middle-class voters, in the closely contested constituencies that will decide the coming election.
The Labour Party's strategy of occupying the centre ground on these issues, leaving the Conservatives no space to be distinctive, is just good sense given the nature of our electoral system. There is a price to be paid, however, as I noticed while interacting with the youth delegates at the recent Labour Party conference.The Conservatives are pledging generous funds for public services, while maintaining their old "tough on immigration" rhetoric. Instead, there were upwards of 300,000 refugees camped there, fleeing ahead of the Russian armies. When judging the event by any yardstick, the bombing was unnecessary and iconoclastic, a show of strength for its own sake.I am glad the Dresdeners elected to subscribe to the cost of restoration, rather than leave the ruins of the church and tower as a memorial, which some had wanted The restoration has been an act of healing. I also view it as a lesson for present-day army generals and heads of state contemplating new wars. It is a reminder that history will remember them more for the innocents killed, than for their military successes.DAVID COOK Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire Labour's right-wing policies alienate youth Sir: Education, health care, crime, and immigration.
