Voice of the people
Carmody Grey feels that we “do not know what is good for us” and should leave it up to our leaders out of “deference” (“Should ‘the people’ be able to have what they want?”, Student Voice, 12 November).

Fourteen years ago I marched, along with at least a million other people, many of whom wore badges of many faiths, against the prospect of a pointless and unsanctioned Iraq war. Our elected representatives ignored us and millions of innocents died. Fifty years ago I marched, in the company of many priests and nuns, against the Vietnam war, with the same result. In neither case did my “elected government” represent the stated wishes of the Church. Those wars were not waged in my name.

Thirty-seven per cent of the electorate voted for Brexit. But this was enough to overturn our “elected” Prime Minister, for whom exactly the same percentage of the electorate had voted in 2015.
The voting systems of neither this country nor the United States allow proportional representation of the wishes of the electorate.