Three weeks later I complained again, to Camden council, and was not reassured by their reply.The line that struck me as the most revealing was this: "The reason for retaining names where we have not received a return is to ensure as far as possible that electors who have registered are able to vote when an election is called".In other words, once you are on the register you stay on until someone tells the council you've gone. If parents spend time getting to know their children in their pre-school years and care for them themselves in their own home, I'm sure the Government's proposed parenting classes would be unnecessary.ANGELA ELLIOTTWELTON LE MARSH LINCOLNSHIRE The ghosts in the voting machine Sir: Before your campaign succeeds and helps to bring about a much-needed change in our electoral system, perhaps you should take a look at how the electoral register is compiled.For example, the house in which I live is, according to the register, subdivided into three flats with 11 occupants. To ensure everybody knows this is special, the time is packed with events and theme parks; children aren't chastised because that would spoil the day.Feminism did a great disservice to our children by denigrating motherhood and Thatcherism compounded this by encouraging everybody to work ridiculously hard to be able to afford consumer durables - the only goal in life, naturally. It ought to be a truism that the best parenting is done by parents, but few will acknowledge or recognise this. It is accepted now that if you have a baby, somebody else will be caring for it at some time during its formative years.I am sure many parents feel slightly guilty about this, hence weekends and evenings are deemed "quality time" - a special time because parents and children are together.
In encouraging both parents to work the Government is doing a disservice to the next generation. The rejection of the constitution by the French people is the first step in reinventing an accountable and democratic EU with the support of its citizens.CAROLINE LUCASGREEN MEP FOR SOUTH EAST ENGLAND LONDON, N19 Parents make the best parents Sir: As Deborah Orr writes (31 May) "lifestyle" programmes dominate our current TV schedules, but viewers who lap up Delia Smith, Ground Force and Supernanny have no more intention of parenting their children than they have of cooking cr? br? or laying a patio.I know of very few babies who are not placed in the hands of a paid carer for a number of hours each week, often from the age of six months or less. We need a constitution which focuses on social justice and sustainability, rather than free trade and profit. I disagree that the French vote means a constitution is unnecessary; we need a constitution to entrench human rights and citizen and nation responsibilities, but one which moves away from the wrong-headed focus on economic neo-liberal policies and EU military role.
The proposed spread of military power through the instigation of the "Rapid Reaction Force" undermines the proper role of the EU in promoting peace, while the prioritisation of trade and competition disregards the need for environmentally sound and locally sustainable production. It was part of growth and change at that time.However, we now know that continued devastation of complex ecosystems is a threat to individual species and to the planet itself. Thus the conditions under which the forests are cleared, in terms of human understanding, are not the same at all. This supports the argument that we should therefore provide financial help to the countries which have these key planetary resources, in order to maintain them, just as our agricultural subsidies here are now turning to encouraging a more balanced ecosystem.TERENCE GAUSSENBOSTON SPA, WEST YORKSHIRE The EU constitution calls for reinvention Sir: I welcome the French "no" vote on the EU Constitution, and I agree with John Rentoul (Opinion, 31 May) that this reinvigorates debate on EU reform. forwarduk .uk) have campaigned with UN, international, regional, national and local community agencies to influence legislators and policymakers in outlawing FGM, as well as developing treatment and counselling centres for those who suffer agonising childbirth, sex, excretion, infections and general ill-health.
