Letters to the Editor

Election points

Sir: I was appalled that the three party leaders agreed to appear on The Frost Interview. We are told from all sides that the country is fighting for survival. We are called upon to make a crucial political decision. In doing so we are urged to judge policies not personalities. Then just as that message has finally sunk in, what happens? Frost, with a capital F. wheels in Personalities, with a capital P. for a cosy probe into their private lives. Do you like Mr Wilson? Do you like him? But seriously, though, do vou like him? Such is the relentless search for political truth.

Now David Frost may be a very nice man. He is undoubtedly a popular interviewer. But I have yet to see him make any serious contribution to political debate, and that at the moment is what we are, or ought to be, engaged in. Instead we are faced with the prospect of millions of viewers casting their votes on the basis of Ted's regrets about women or Harold's broken thumb nail.

It has come to a pretty pass when prospective Prime Ministers have to behave like aspiring Miss Worlds or vie with boxing matches to score well in the ratings. Mr Frost is welcome to interview whomever he wishes and his penchant for distinguished people is such that .we may yet be treated to firesides with the Queen, the Pope, Lucifer or even the Holy Ghost. But for party leaders at the peak of a crucial general election let that be the last..

Douglas French Rangitane, Downs Way, Tadworth, Surrey

Sir: In this time of national crisis the minds of the people are getting more and more confused by the prolific supply of knowledge, opinions, beliefs, etc, showered on us by the experts in the name of the people. As an ordinary citizen of Great Britain trying to make an honest living and keep my family, I find myself sinking deeper and deeper into debt. I am aware that I am living beyond my means, not only because of my mismanagement, although that too is a factor, but also because the society in which I live imposes certain values, standards and attitudes with which I must struggle to conform if I do not want to 'drop out.'

Where then is my freedom? We talk of political conviction and persuasions. Both these terms imply pressure from outside. My mind is the convict of political ideologies and may be persuaded to follow one or other master doctrine. My heart tells me that the correct function of my mind is to be its guide and servant. Its function is to see that I express what I feel and do what I • say.

Let every voterin this election wake up his heart and go and see all the candidates clamouring for. his vote. Let him look beyond, the sentence of political conviction that the candidate is serving with such devotion. Let him look to the man himself and vote for the -one to whom he feels drawn.

But let him ask the candidate one question: 'Do you pledge that you will support any measure with which y you are sympathetic, regardless of which party has introduced it?" -If the answer is yes, give him your Vote and your trust, and the freedom to wholeheartedly represent you. Give him the freedom to be a man first and a politician, affiliated but not bound, to a party, second.

F. M. Bannis 15 Kings Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey

Sir: The dilemma for the serious voter is that his choice is limited to Messrs Heath and Wilson. I agree that the return of a majority Labour government would be a disaster but would Mr Heath be any less so as Premier? He argues that the electorate did not support his stand against the miners last winter. What stand? A face-saving 'mistake' had already been discovered in the wages calculations before the election was called; during the campaign Mr Heath said that he would settle with the miners if returned. At no time did he state categorically that he would stand firm, if necessary, to the extent of refusing supplementary benefits to miners' families. On the contrary, he was at pains to assure us that he was not seeking confrontation. We who understand that confrontation with the union leaders will have to come if the nation is not to lapse into inflation and anarchy on the Weimar scale would have preferred to get it over with.

I believe that the Conservatives won the 1970 election — contrary to expert —srroboecgaugsoevetrhpemireomt anainfdestao pforts roemc ssed

move to the right. They lost the last election because they failed to carry out their professed Intentions. They argued that they found their proposals 'politically impossible, which was simply a

u ma rpeh ot othe wleeaf left hatos e been its successful inculcation in the minds of the Tory leadership that right-wing ideas are not only immoral but electorally disastrous.

The best result, of this election would be another minority Labour government if it led to the sacking of Mr Heath as Leader of the Opposition. The drawback is that a successor would have to be somebody from outside the Shadow Cabinet. Mr Powell is the obvious choice; once back in the House, he would be probably the only man who could command the support of a majority of all parties in the country. Nobody branded as a supporter of the policies of Mr Ted (firm but fair) Heath should even be considered.

C. W. Bond 88 Lower Bristol Road, Weston-superMare, Somerset