We need to rethink how we phrase our constitutions after Facebook’s decision to temporarily remove an artefactual post

Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

The social media giant said the decision was a mistake (AFP/Getty)

The English language is a powerful tool to express our ideals and intentions through our constitutions, although sometimes the words are no longer appropriate and change is needed.

Facebook recently removed part of a post that cited the US Declaration of Independence stating that it contained hate speech, before apologising and restoring it. Admittedly the document’s reference to “merciless Indian savages” is something that is no longer appropriate and never really was, but it has been there for centuries. It is the declaration that needs correction, although as it is a historical artefact this probably can’t occur.

There is a current drive to update the Irish constitution in regards to the role of women in society, including the following two excerpts: “In particular, the state recognises that by her life within the home, a woman gives to the state a support without which the common good cannot be achieved”; and “the state shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to neglect of their duties in the home”. The two excerpts are from a different century’s perspective and need to be removed. These changes should be obvious and immediate but as they are part of the constitution a referendum needs to be held to ensure this happens – hopefully.

Perhaps the law writers should take some guidance from the small country of Bhutan, which has gross national happiness enshrined in the country’s constitution as a measure of the countries success.

Writing letters is difficult enough, although writing constitutions and laws that work for all seems nearly impossible.

Dennis Fitzgerald
Melbourne

If the NHS is so good why aren’t other countries copying it?

On the 70th anniversary of the NHS, many commentators claim it deserves our veneration and that the model has been imitated by many nations. Sadly this encapsulates the central problems with the NHS. As there can be no improvement in a system that is both held in scared esteem and believed to be the universal model.

Instead we should be asking ourselves why, if the NHS really is the envy of the world, no other European nation has copied it?

The fact is that having the state guarantee access to something doesn’t mean the public sector must be the provider. We need access to food but we don’t amalgamate our supermarkets into a single giant company run by Whitehall. Yet when it comes to health we insist a state-run monolithic monster with a staff of 1.5 million is the only way.

Rev Dr John Cameron
St Andrews, Scotland

It’s time to get serious on climate change

Is it not time for people to accept that climate change is happening and that the significant effects are now a reality? Our recent hot weather is the start of the change that will threaten life as we know it. The small average increase is represented by long periods of hot dry weather affecting the whole nation. Plants stop growing or will only survive with artificial irrigation, while wildlife suffers as food and water sources fail and their natural cycle is disrupted.

The government, in yet more Brexit-like prevarication, has for years delayed action because a few doubters cry “foul”. Big ideas are based on action only if “the private sector” comes up with solutions that are half the current estimated cost. That should delay action for years then. Meanwhile, people die from the direct effects of poor air quality caused by fossil fuel use and our buildings continue to use twice as much energy and as they need to maintain our current lifestyle.

This reminds me of the South African government that refused HIV treatments because there were better, cheaper, “natural” remedies available. How many more will have to die before our government accepts that action is needed now and the money to do it will have to be found? It will be better and cheaper than waiting. Half price solutions are like comparing the loss of EU trade to the Brexiteers global trade opportunity – good rhetoric but light on facts.

By the time we prove to everybody that the light in the climate tunnel is an oncoming train the resulting carnage will be unimaginable. Creating good clean air, low pollution and conserving our energy may have costs, but also benefits. Avoid the carnage and do something good – now.

Michael Mann
Address supplied

We need to rethink the NHS’s model of being ‘free at the point of use’

The NHS suffers many complex problems and insufficient funding is a recurring cited cause. One suggestion I would give, as a Briton living in Norway (with a functioning NHS of its own, albeit with its own similar challenges), is to rethink the strict principle of “free at the point of use” for patients. In my mind, just like insurance, it makes sense to incentivise people to consider the need to consult a doctor by having an “excess” or own contribution for a visit. All in all such a contribution would provide some funding to the cash-strapped NHS from those that can afford it.

Scott Peacock
Stavanger, Norway

Don’t forget Jordan’s refugee crisis amid the joy of the World Cup

As the world is riding a wave of World Cup euphoria and the European continent is gripped by a massive hysteria over border control, political and cultural identity and the migration crisis, the United Nations is brazenly asking Jordan to keep its borders open for Syrian refugees amassed near its border with Syria. This is a testament of how hypocritical our world has become.

Jordan has demonstrated unrivalled generosity to millions of refugees fleeing persecution and insecurity in their homelands over past decades. However, foreign assistance has been barely forthcoming in the midst of a steep financial meltdown. Also small and poor countries cannot remain overburdened by this humanitarian and security challenge. The best solution lies in spearheading a political settlement to the ongoing tragedy, instead of selling armaments and igniting the embers of ethnic and religious entities between warring factions.

Dr Munjed Farid al Qutob
London NW2

We must all oppose bull-running festivals

Today marks the start of Pamplona’s annual San Fermín festival – in which bulls are terrorised in the Running of the Bulls and tortured and killed in the subsequent bullfights. Over the next few days, people will travel to Spain to take part in these idiotic displays. Some will lose their nerve. Others may be gored.

But one thing is certain – every single one of the tormented bulls will end up in the city’s bullring, where men on horses will run them in circles while repeatedly stabbing them with daggers and harpoon-like banderillas until they’re dizzy, weakened from blood loss and in agony. Stabbed and mutilated, the bulls will be dead before the visitors board their flights home.

To raise awareness of this bloodshed, I joined some 100 other activists in a march to the Plaza Consistorial in the city centre. Red flares were set off throughout the protest, filling the sky with “blood”, while signs proclaiming, “Stop the Bloody Bullfights,” spelled out the carnage awaiting the bulls.

It’s the responsibility of all decent people to reject cruelty that masquerades as “tradition” by refusing to attend the Running of the Bulls or other bull-running festivals.

Lydia Smyth, Peta UK
London N1