Just look to the Stoke by-election to see real democracy in action

The focus of attention for the Stoke by-election will be on the performances of the major parties, but surely the key result was the BNP candidate being beaten by The Incredible Flying Brick (Official Monster Raving Loony Party). Now that is truly democracy in action.

Bernard Cudd

Address supplied

Take’s one to know one, Michael Gove

Michael Gove predicts that Donald Trump will only serve one term as President (news, 24 February) because his narcissism will result in a defeat to the Democrats in 2020.

It is not necessary to be a psychologist to recognise Trump’s monumental narcissism but this trait seems to be endemic in nearly all politicians who seek high office in government, not least in Gove himself, who as Education Secretary antagonised the teaching profession en masse by his arrogance and refusal to listen to any moderating voice and probably contributed in large measure to the recruitment and retention crisis in the profession.

Patrick Cleary

Devon

Pushy parents

I was shocked, but sadly not surprised, to read Rachel Pells article on pushy parents as a cause for children to be misdiagnosed with learning difficulties (news, 23 February).

Most schools are equipped to deal with special educational needs and there is a wider understanding that children’s talents may lie in areas outside of academia.

However, to place a child in such a situation with no need to seems strange. Instead, if a child is not a maths genius, why not focus on their other talents. If they are gifted musically, let schools help them focus on this. Education is the most important thing we can give a child, if one is disheartened at a young age as they are resigned to fail, because of a misdiagnosed learning difficulty, then that desire to learn may quickly disappear.

V Clarke

Hertfordshire

Lords more representative than they look

JH Moffat is concerned that the Lords, being unelected, are undemocratic, having a greater proportion of Liberal Democratic Peers than there are MPs (Letters, 23 February).

The Lords seem to me to consist of a broad run of Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers, from all historical wings of the parties. Add to that a sprinkling of non-aligned peers, some religious members and the odd lawyer and suddenly the Lords look more representative of the people as a whole than the Commons.

How we ever got into a position like that is an interesting question, how we get out of it and into truly representative democracy is a vital one!

Andy Wilson

Winscombe

Brexit and life-saving meds

Medical research organisations have warned that patients could face delays in accessing new treatments after Brexit because of uncertainties around licensing. While this issue is important, there are changes that the NHS and Nice can make now which will speed up how quickly families can access them.

We are at the start of a new era of treatments for rare conditions. Translarna is the very first drug to tackle an underlying genetic cause of muscular dystrophy. It was approved by the EMA in 2014, and boys living with the devastating condition of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in several European countries could access the drug from 2015. Boys in the UK, however, had to wait until 2016.

This two-year delay was caused by UK agencies rather than the EU. With a number of promising potential treatments on the horizon, we urgently need to improve the way we assess treatments for rare conditions to ensure patients in the UK are not denied access to life-changing drugs.

Nic Bungay

Director of campaigns, care and information, Muscular Dystrophy UK

Arts initiatives and prisoner rehabilitation

While I fully support the Secretary of State for Justice’s call to reduce prison populations by reforming offenders, (news, 13 February) there are still too many non-violent offenders – particularly women – in prison who could be rehabilitated more effectively through community sentences.

The severity of the current situation in prisons warrants immediate and significant action to reduce prison numbers. However, a focus on prisoners’ needs and appropriate rehabilitation is of course very welcome, particularly at a time when prison suicide rates and mental health issues are at a record high. I urge the Secretary of State for Justice, when considering interventions to tackle these needs, to be alert to the impact of the arts in engaging prisoners in purposeful and rehabilitative activity. In recent years, I have seen significant funding cuts to the availability of the arts in the criminal justice system, despite witnessing firsthand the results that can be achieved through arts-based programmes.

Arts initiatives help individuals to learn to foster their emotions in a safe way and provide an outlet for any negative feelings. This positive regulation of emotions has been linked to increased wellbeing and decreases in anger and aggression, and when you consider the impact that the mental health and wellbeing of prisoners has on their risk of offending and reoffending, it’s crucial we tackle this head on. In engaging prisoners in arts activities, I have seen time after time how this can help prisoners move towards a crime-free future.

We must ensure prisoners have access to the support and help required to facilitate rehabilitation, and the arts is a powerful tool to help us achieve this.

Laura Caulfield

Assistant dean (research and postgraduate affairs), Bath Spa University