i Deputy Editor's Letter: If we all thought the same

Our stable of columnists often incites readers to exercise their right to an opinion, but Yasmin Alibhai-Brown’s open letter to Nigel Farage yesterday really opened the floodgates. Many of you invited us to allocate an entire page to “answering her ludicrous comments”, but an equal number wrote to say they “agreed with everything she wrote”.

With the general election approaching next year and the EU in/out debate swirling around us, there will be many more who will have their say in these pages about Europe and its influence on us.

Of course, there will be a minority who threaten to never buy this paper again because they have encountered an opinion that they disagree with. But, in my view, to shore up your own opinions you must read opposing beliefs in order to counter the arguments of those that think differently. Wouldn’t the world be a boring place if we all thought the same thing?

*****

It appears that one of the “actors” David Lister wrote about yesterday in this slot, is about to be yanked off stage before the finale. Just under a year ago I wrote in praise of David Moyes’ predecessor after he had called time on one of the most remarkable careers in any discipline. For Moyes to match the record of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United would have been nigh-on impossible.

His price of “failure”? A multi-million-pound payout – worth the remaining five years of his contract – and, no doubt, a lucrative contract at another club, willing to pay a similar salary. I bet you all wish you were as bad as him at your jobs!

i@independent.co.uk

Twitter.com: @jonesrhodri