Gordon Brown's hiding of his faith was unfair – all politicians should feel able to be open about what they believe

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Former PM Gordon Brown suggests the clamour for elected representatives to be more authentic jars with polls that show voters want religion left out of politics (PA)

Gordon Brown is not the first politician reluctant to be more open about his faith, as Andrew Grice pointed out in his piece (‘Gordon Brown should have been more open about his faith when he was PM’, Thursday).

Despite the last census showing that more than two-thirds of people identify with a faith, religion seems a no-go area for politicians, encapsulated in Alastair Campbell’s famous comment: “We don’t do God.”

However, we need to be more grown up about this. People who have a faith tend to want to make a difference to society, and in particular help those without a voice. It is no coincidence that five of the last six Prime Ministers have all professed to be Christian of different hues.

Three of them have been children of notably religious parents, namely Gordon Brown, Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May. If we want to make politics a welcome terrain for people who believe in something beyond themselves, we need to be less neuralgic about matters of faith.

We are not a theocracy but a modern democracy that should welcome politicians of all faiths and none.

Zaki Cooper, trustee of the Council of Christians and Jews
London NW9

Leave Nick Clegg alone!

I am astonished at the unpleasant tone of all of the letters you have published recently about the probable knighthood for Nick Clegg.

These attitudes underline the difficulties of finding calm and moderate leadership in the centre ground of British politics, so devoted as it is to an adversarial and divisive two party system. Mr Clegg may have misjudged his approach to electoral reform, as well as his supporters’ likely reaction to the tuition fees issue, but taking his party into coalition was an act of statesmanship and courage.

His leadership placed a restraining hand on the right-wing ideologues of the Tory Party and its Eurosceptic tendency. As a speaker of several European languages with a much deeper understanding of European cultures and political attitudes than the vast majority of Brits and almost any other British politician, Nick Clegg’s is a voice more sorely needed in government now than ever.

I vote for an excellent local Lib Dem MP, but as a founder member of the SDP I have never felt entirely comfortable with the Lib Dem’s old Liberal strand, and feel more of a social democrat than a Liberal in political terms.

In national politics the former Liberal Party often seemed more interested in proclaiming radical beliefs than in seeking the compromises which would always have been necessary to give them a voice in government. If ever politics needed compromise, it is now – in the face of this disastrous Brexit-obsessed Tory Government.

It is one of the many ironies in Britain’s relations with, and attitudes towards, Europe that we have mocked European countries for decades for their succession of coalition governments, when with those coalitions several of our leading European competitors have been so much more successful economically, socially and culturally in the post-Second World War period than Britain has.

Big intractable issues such as NHS funding, social care, housing provision, higher education funding, prison reform, etc need cross-party cooperation, not the pendulum swing of ideologies and the fruitless bellowing of rival solutions across the floor of the House of Commons.

Gavin Turner
Norfolk

For services to the Tories...

The justification for Nick Clegg’s knighthood (should it happen) can only be for “service to the Tory Party”: the catch-all which sees so many make it onto the honours list.

Eddie Dougall
Suffolk

Take a Trump in the toilet

After the President of the United States declared Jerusalem the “capital of Israel”, the Israeli transport minister has announced his intention to name a planned station in the city after Donald Trump. By way of retaliation, I suggest the Palestinian people find a noisome latrine in Jerusalem and name it after Donald Trump.

Sasha Simic

​London N16

Bitcoin is a business – disconnected from its users

Bitcoin is not “the currency of the alt-right”, no matter what Richard Spencer says (’Bitcoin latest: How the cryptocurrency boom has played into hands of extremist groups’, Wednesday website). It is a neutral medium of exchange that, like any other form of money, is disconnected from the actions and intentions of its users.

In fact, Bitcoin’s public, pseudonymous and immutable ledger records every transaction ever made, which makes it uniquely disadvantageous to nefarious actors. And alt-right extremists might never cash in on the enormous profits yielded by their bitcoin investments, since any business offering bitcoin-to-fiat exchange services is regulated under AML/KYC laws just like traditional banks.

More importantly, bitcoin has aided hurricane victims throughout the southern United States, empowered female entrepreneurs in Afghanistan, and rescued families from a free-falling economy in Venezuela. Like McDonald's, bitcoin also aims to daily serve billions by including the world’s unbanked population in the global economy.

Bitcoin is a piece of open-source, cutting-edge financial technology with the potential to improve the lives of billions. The alt-right has no claim to it whatsoever.

Zack
Virginia, USA

Football is grounded in sexism

I refer to Premier League football club Crystal Palace’s use of cheerleaders in pre-match build up and during half time. Against the backdrop of 2017 – a year which saw a meteoric rise in the profile of women’s sports – the use of a glamorous female sideshow in football is detrimental to the gains made elsewhere.

Moreover, in seeming defiance of the increasingly female and family-oriented demographic of football audiences, Palaces’ continued support of the cheerleaders seems out of touch with its fan base and, arguably, is adding costs to a club under financial strain (the club reported financial losses of £7m in 2016).

Vicky
Manchester

Boosting sales and community

Retail sales figures would be enormously higher if there were longer retail closing periods over Christmas. This is because more goods would be bought prior to closure and on reopening.

There is a prima facie case for retail closure on Boxing Day. In Germany, Boxing Day is referred to, more accurately, as “second Christmas day”. Some families may help out in the community on Christmas Day (witness the events at Euston Station) and thus Boxing Day is their Christmas Day as family together.

There is also a prima facie case for early closing on Christmas Eve, by noon at the latest. There are many family events on Christmas Eve afternoon, such as crib/nativity services.

A good two-and-a-half days of retail closure at Christmas would be a win-win for retail figures, retail workers and society itself.

John Barstow
West Sussex

Michael Heseltine is talking sense

Thank goodness someone in the Tory Party is pointing out the obvious inanity of Brexit (Rees-Mogg says calls to take whip from Heseltine are a ‘silly overreaction’, yesterday). And what an astonishingly vicious reaction from the dinosaurs of the hard right who are so determined to drag the country into this monumental backward step.

A bit rich, I thought, for Nigel Evans to mention the “Jurassic” era... does he view himself and his views as more modern, perhaps of the Cretaceous period, I wonder?

Lynda Newbery
Address supplied