These are proud people, they don’t want to be filmed cutting babies out of mother’s wombs and playing with the foetuses in front of them.The camera can be more powerful a defence than the gun in these situations. Such a Citizens’ Assembly would likely have opposed the Iraq war; it would certainly now be pursuing all those Ministers who misled both Parliament and people into this criminal folly.CHARLES SCANLANLONDON NW8 The mythical beast of new Toryism Sir: David Cameron is trying to have us believe that he is a “Liberal Conservative”. A better remedy would a powerful second chamber chosen by random selection from all members of the public prepared to serve for a single term. Even worse have been Parliament’s subsequent failures to hold the Government to account, for which Labour loyalists and compromised Tories share responsibility.Despite Mr Joslin’s hope, proportional representation (whatever its other merits) could not solve this problem, as the Commons would still be dominated by professional politicians. Had they done what they were to do three weeks later, many of my former colleagues in the Parliamentary Labour Party would have come with us. On the 18 March on a similar motion in the name of Chris Smith and moved by Peter Gilfoyle, 139 Labour Members of Parliament voted against the Government.It’s just a huge pity that Robin Cook and Clare Short, then Cabinet members, voted for the Government and not for the dissenters on 26 February. However, it might be recorded that in September 2002 during the recall of Parliament, a number of us, not allowing ourselves to be deceived by the Prime Minister’s claims on the dossier, voted against the adjournment of the House, to the consternation of the Government Chief Whip.
On 26 February 2003, 121 Labour Members of Parliament voted for the proposition that the case for military action was unproven.

Your children are bullied at school because they’ve picked up a Wiltshire accent. You write a piece headed: “Back in London At Last – But Have I Done the Wrong Thing?” A publisher you know rings up and suggests that you write a book about your experiences as a dire warning to all those with the same idea..

More from Miles Kington. Cabinet resignations came too late to stop the Iraq war

Sir: There is some justice in the heading over Michael Joslin’s letter “MPs share Blair’s guilt on Iraq” (2 October). They’ve made loads of friends in the village and they’ve started riding horses They don’t want to go back to London.10 You go back to London, but you can only afford Ealing. You find you are now kept awake by planes overhead, which you never were before. They go back to London, glowing, just as you did when you stayed with Mary and Jim. You write an article headed: “When the Magic of the Country Starts to Wear off”.7.

You hear that Mary and Jim, the couple you first stayed with, have split up. He has gone back to London where he is having an affair with a colleague, and Mary has stayed, very unhappy You look at each other and go: Hmmmmm…8 Your first winter You didn’t know that the roof leaked You find a bedroom full of water. You make friends in the village, yes, but you can’t have a decent conversation with any of them, because, well, for instance, none of them even knows what the Groucho Club is, for God’s sake Actually, you’re starting to forget what it is yourself. You write a piece headed: “Why I Can’t Wait to get back to London”.9 You decide to go back to London The children kick up a terrible fuss. And it’s got an Aga! One of you says they could easily work at home, and the other says two or three days in London a week are all they need And you buy. (You write a piece headed: “Farewell to London – and Good Riddance!”).4.