Don’t let don’t-knows triumph at the polls

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/nov/12/dont-let-dont-knows-triumph-at-the-polls

Version 0 of 1.

Brief letters: Boarding schools | Wellington college fees | Steve McQueen’s Year 3 project | Spike Milligan’s election advice | Shared ancestry | Parliamentary disillusion

George Monbiot’s article on boarding schools (Journal, 7 November) will have been a painful read for many, and may well have been painful for him to write. As a director for Boarding School Survivors Support (BSSS), I read of experience after experience of suffering. I applaud Mr Monbiot for having the courage to bring his story into the public eye. For those who suffer, there is help: visit the BSSS website as a first step.Margaret Laughton London

• Mike Hoskin (Letters, 11 November) says the current fees for Wellington college (my alma mater) are about £30,000. In fact it charges about £42,000 a year for boarders. His point nonetheless remains entirely valid.Chris EntwistleTiptree, Essex

• Last year two of our grandchildren were in year 3. They live in Cumbria and Dorset, so they didn’t qualify for a photo by Steve McQueen (Report, 12 November). How good it would have been for him to step out of the capital and record some of the other millions of British children.Janet Mansfield Aspatria, Cumbria

• Adrian Chiles’ discovery of so much voter apathy (G2, 7 November) is best countered by reference to Spike Milligan, who once said: “One day the don’t-knows will get in, and then where will we be?”Roy HollingworthBoston Spa, West Yorkshire

• Thank you to Adam Rutherford (Journal, 12 November) for solving our Brexit identity mess: “All people of long-standing European descent have the same ancestors a thousand years ago.” QED. Rev Dr Alan Race Market Harborough, Leicestershire

• I’m sure that I heard the BBC newsreader Huw Edwards refer to the disillusion of parliament last week. Seems appropriate.Neil ThomasColchester

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition