Better things to do
Sir: The trouble with participatory or active democracy (Ferdinand Mount, 21 February) is that political activists by their very nature are a little odd. They are eccentrics with bees in their bonnets, dreamers, busybodies and windbags all jollied along, more often than not, by a smattering of ideological hard men.
The reason why the Labour Party cannot be salvaged is that even people on the centre-right of the party cling to the romantic illusion of the mass movement – an utter anachronism in our televisiondominated atomistic society. When Mr Roy Hattersley juts out his chin and calls upon 'ordinary, sensible Labour Party members' to attend endless meetings and committees to roll back the extreme left, he is demanding the impossible. Such people do not do as Mr Hattersley advises precisely because they are ordinary and sensible.
It is to be hoped that the Social Democrats do not make the same mistake. However, when Dr David Owen starts talking about sending out millions of multiple-choice questionnaires to tap something called grass roots opinion, I fear the worst.
Matthew Symonds 4 Lantern Close, London S'YV15
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