Brexit has become the 'neverendum' story

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Iain Duncan Smith has called for Brexit talks to begin 'as soon as possible' (Getty)

So Iain Duncan Smith says get on with triggering Article 50 or risk a "neverendum" as that is the will of the people. This from a failed leader of the Tory Party, who signed up to the lies and distortions of the now absent Leave campaign.

Many of us voted Remain because we wanted peace, security, an outward-looking ethos, a real impact on EU policy – opportunities only available to members of the European Union. We could see that the Leave camp had no post-Brexit plan, other than inspiring little Englander, inward-looking nostalgia, nativism and nationalism, blaming all ills on migrants.

So I would welcome parliament, even one based on a flawed undemocratic system, to be the final arbiter on the UK's position with Europe and if necessary throw out the result of the very close referendum because it was based in lies and deceit.

LN Price West Sussex

You can survive dementia as a family

My husband, who has vascular dementia, lived at home, much supported by the Church, the NHS and neighbours, until I couldn’t cope with his many falls (though lovely men would come out from Norwich in the middle of the night to pick him up). Now he is in a wonderful home in Buxton, Norfolk, run and staffed by the kindest people, many of them from local villages. Many of the residents are visited daily by their families, and we all get on with each other and the staff. Dementia is a horrible disease, but you can survive.

Kate Bevis Sheringham

The Labour leadership battle wages on

Your editorial headed "It doesn’t matter if Owen Smith or Jeremy Corbyn is at the helm – electoral defeat for Labour is inevitable" (23 August) rightly tells us that Mr Corbyn and John McDonnell have been proven right on economic policies regarding investment etc, and that the Tory Chancellor is likely to follow their policies. You congratulate Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell on defeating the Government over cuts to disability benefits and working tax credits. You could have added how Mr Corbyn has brought into focus the appalling results of weapon sales to Saudi Arabia, and the Government’s blindness to the homeless, the plight of the poor, and the NHS’s to drift into bankruptcy.

With all that in mind, ought not the headline at least have been, "Corbyn proved right, yet still attacked" or, better still, "Corbyn proved right, so let’s see him win"?

Peter Cave London

Jeremy Corbyn says he wants more democracy. He recently visited West Cornwall and held a rally in the heart of the Camborne, Redruth and Hayle Constituency. We found out second hand that he would be coming but at no time was our constituency secretary officially invited to attend. I suppose because Michael Foster was our candidate last year he didn't want anyone there who disagreed with him, regardless of the opinions of the rest of our seven hundred members. Some democracy.

Trevor Dalley Cornwall

His supporters will tell you that Labour Party membership has swelled tremendously since Jeremy Corbyn became leader but what they fail to recognise is that this doesn't mean he can defeat the Conservatives at the ballot box. Mr Corbyn may have been great at motivating activists but the vast majority of the public aren't that politically engaged and he simply isn't reaching them. Sure, he can draw the crowds at rallies but that means nothing – bands can play to packed clubs but unless they get radio airtime then they will be doomed to obscurity foreve. Yet Mr Corbyn actively spurns the attentions of the press (or the "mainstream media", as his supporters vehemently spit) even though without utilising newspapers and television he will never be able to reach out to the nation to garner the support needed to win a general election.

Corbynistas regularly claim that the mainstream media has ignored his outings and his successes but the real truth is that he deliberately hasn't kept them in the picture. The media is a tool which he fails to utilise, refuses even to entertain. Indeed, when invited to a recent hustings (organised by those infamous right-wing publications The New Statesman, The Guardian and The Mirror) he refused to attend, claiming that the occasion would be biased against him. It's politics, Jez: if you can't handle situations where people might disagree with you then it might be time to admit that it probably isn't your natural vocation.

The choice that Labour Party members are faced with in this leadership election isn't one of Corbyn-vs-Smith, it's of getting Mr Corbyn out or becoming an unregarded fringe party of protest. Mr Corbyn promised us a different type of politics and it looks like he's determined to bring it about: an end to democracy as we face life under a one-party system with no viable opposition. In the event that he wins, Owen Smith probably isn't going to be leading Labour by the time of the next general election, he is just the kamikaze pilot who has volunteered to sacrifice himself for the sake of his party

Let's hope we can move past this crisis in the Labour Party quickly. In order for power to be balanced it needs to be challenged and held to account. Our country needs an active, viable opposition and it needs it now.

Julian Self Milton Keynes