Letter: Drop this list

Sir: Your leading article "Modern democracy does not need this royal performance" (24 November) was very silly indeed. Of course the funny clothes and backward walking at the opening of Parliament are ludicrous even in the pantomime season, but not quite as ludicrous as your statement that Britain is not a democracy, but a constitutional monarchy. That is just pedantry.

If a hereditary head of state means that a country is not a democracy, then perhaps you believe that the existence of a non-hereditary head of state renders a country democratic. That also is patent rubbish. Everybody in Britain has the vote. That, to my mind, is democracy.

TOM MARSHALL.

Alderley Edge,

Cheshire

Sir: As a lifetime Tory, I voted Labour because Tony Blair promised a return to honour and accountability and a genuine democracy for our country. Closed lists are undemocratic. I find I have become increasingly grateful for the House of Lords.

ANGELA THORPE

Wymeswold,

Leicestershire