The Palace of Westminster should be turned into a tourist attraction

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It would be such fun to have one actor permanently and arrogantly lounging across the government front benches (Getty)

As the failure of plans for the restoration of the Palace of Westminster is back in the news, perhaps I could revive my earlier proposal for a workable and possibly cheaper project.

In brief, build a new sensibly shaped debating chamber, restore the old building as posh hotels and apartments, but keep the debating chamber as a tourist attraction, with actors reenacting famous debates from the past.

It would be such fun to have one actor permanently and arrogantly lounging across the government front benches, and probably the only way to guarantee Jacob Rees-Mogg a place in history.

David Buckton

Linton

Catherine the Great

Having just read Boris Johnson’s observation that Vladimir Putin wouldn’t have launched his “macho war” if he was a woman, I am now convinced that his Eton and Oxford education was wasted.

He should know that the empress Catherine the Great, who was most definitely a woman, waged wars of conquest against the Turks, resulting initially in the annexation of the Crimea and eventually, after three enforced partitions of Poland, in the absorption of effectively the whole of Ukraine into Russia. And before anyone says “typical Russian”, they should remember that she was of German origin.

As Carl Sagan said, you have to know the past to understand the present, and it is a worry that our prime minister obviously doesn’t know his history.

Colin Burke

Cumbria

Course closures

The proposal to suspend English literature courses at a couple of universities reminds me of a piece of graffiti at my university 50 years ago.

Over the toilet paper dispenser in the student union, someone had written: “Sociology degrees, help yourself.”

Jack Liebeskind

Cheltenham

Right to choose in UK

Only two days ago my letter appeared on these pages warning that the UK is not immune to the anti-abortion lobby.

Excluding the incurably unhinged on social media, I did not think, when corresponding, I would hear reports of MPs supporting the prohibition of abortions in the UK just yet.

I did not expect to hear an elected representative at Westminster peddling the belief that other people should control women’s bodies, or words to that effect.

One Danny Kruger, MP for Devizes, stood up in the Commons and reportedly said “abortion is a proper topic for political debate”, among other words that sounded suspiciously like support for the lamentable removal of Roe v Wade.

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It was quite frankly, appalling. I just hope the good people of Devizes see Kruger for what he is – and soon.

Robert Boston

Kingshill

Lib Dem’s roots

As a lifelong liberal, I laughed when I read Sean O’Grady’s piece describing the Liberal Democrats as the Japanese knotweed of British politics.

The reality is the party is really more like “hybrid knotweed” formed because it is an interaction of Japanese knotweed which resembles the dominance of the former Social Democratic Party within the Liberal Democrats, and dwarf Japanese knotweed which is what old liberals like me feel like!

Surprisingly, the hybrid is more resistant to herbicides.

Kartar Uppal

Sutton Coldfield