Your letters: Democracy debate, a headmaster remembered and 1972 archive image

​Responding to my own letter

Not for the first time, I find myself in the bizarre position of responding to my own letter! Heavy editing of my letter (13 August) might leave readers baffled by its cliff-hanging ending. The mysterious two possible improvements to democracy which I suggested in the full text were replacement by democracy of two of the three stages of introducing a law - passage by the House of Lords and the royal assent, both of which involve people untouched by human vote.

Alongside my letter, Chris Smith rejects any change to the palaeolithic first-past-the-post system for parliamentary elections, partly on the basis of the purported "instability" of other systems.

Let's have a look at a couple of ladies, both with politics a million miles from mine, who share the distinction of being the first woman to hold the position equivalent to Prime Minister in countries where coalition government is common.

Giorgia Meloni is the second longest serving President of the Council of Ministers in the history of the Italian Republic. Her period of office began three days before the demise of Liz Truss, has encompassed the entire premierships of Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer and continues into Andy Burnham's tenure. Now let's turn to the former Federal Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. Beginning her tenure when Tony Blair was Prime Minister, Dr Merkel continued through the periods of office of Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Theresa May, and into most of Boris Johnson's time.

It might also be noted that the British system hasn't delivered stellar results for UK citizens, with average earnings, for example, languishing well down the European league table, especially for states in north-west Europe.

Alan Harrison, Bloxwich

Headmaster a guiding light

I was recently researching my former school and was surprised to find no record of its existence. It is still a school at Mill Street, Brierley Hill, but for infants I could not find any history of the former headmaster who began there at the same time. His name was Mr K L Hughes and he was a truly great headmaster.

He was a large man a true gentleman with the a high calibre of ability and skills. He was respected by the pupils and we looked up to him. He was a disciplinarian but fair to all.

Sadly, shortly after leaving school and starting my working life, I learned that he had passed away.

I do not know anything about his family life or relatives but should any of his descendants read this I would like to express my admiration for him and how he gave me a direction in life. I am sorry I cannot find any information about him or the school that I attended from 1964 to ‘68. They were truly happy days and my parents were right in that as they were in all other things that youth of the time often disregard.

Pete Lowe, Brierley Hill

• You can enjoy other pictures from the past and more with our weekly FREE Nostalgia Newsletter - with scores of archive pictures and exclusive features on the history of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire and the Black Country - all sent to your inbox every week. Sign up here.

Have an opinion? We want to hear from you.

Share your views by writing to Readers’ Letters at [email protected].

Letters to the editor must include the writer’s name and address. Letters will only be published anonymously in exceptional circumstances. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity or style.

Do you have a picture from the past to share?

We would love to hear from you. Whether you have an old photograph, need help identifying a street or recognise a familiar face, send your images to [email protected].

Please include your name, where you are from and as much information as possible about the photograph. We will publish as many as we can online and in print.