Labour supporters might reflect that, disagreeing as they do with all that the Tories profess, they need not fear the smugly confident campaign by the Tory press to get Jeremy Corbyn elected Labour leader (Telegraph urges readers: sign up here for Labour, vote Corbyn, ‘destroy the party’, 16 July). Great man though he was, Michael Foot was too remotely professorial to appeal to a wide public – after all, he evidently read books! Corbyn rather comes across much more like the kind of schoolteacher or GP that everyone has encountered and come to trust. And – here are his secret weapons – he talks straight, means what he says, doesn’t go in for personal scorn and knows his onions. There may be some who, not noticing that Labour actually gained more than a million votes across England and Wales at this year’s election, long to wallow in defeat and retreat. Corbyn offers grit, honesty, consistency and the belief that devil-take-the-hindmost is an amoral philosophy. These things will have wide appeal. The Telegraph should remember the old adage: be careful what you wish for.

W Stephen Gilbert

Corsham, Wiltshire

The Tory press at the time had convinced people that Thatcher had saved the country from the world recession Christopher Jordan

• The Telegraph makes the same mistake as Martin Kettle did recently (For Labour the choice is a stark one: purity, or power, 26 June) in attributing the scale of the Labour defeat of 1983 to the leftwing views of the Labour leadership when, in fact, there were a number of more significant reasons. The Tory press at the time had convinced people that Thatcher had saved the country from the world recession when actually Britain had recovered less well than other countries. The Falklands factor was important, of course, but the biggest factor by far was the defection of the “Gang of Four” and the split in the Labour vote caused by the formation of the SDP.

The SDP-Liberal Alliance gained 25.4% of the vote compared with 1.7% by the Liberals in 1979. Unfortunately, quite apart from his views, Michael Foot was not very electable. The so-called “longest suicide note in history” was way down the list of reasons.

Christopher Jordan

Derby

• Jonathan Freedland highlights the language difficulties that are part of the problem facing Labour, and especially those in leadership roles (Labour must learn to speak human, whatever its policies, 18 July). But Peter Oborne’s surprisingly sympathetic conversation with Len McCluskey (Saturday interview, 18 July) shows us that there is no inevitability about left-leaning leaders being incapable of communicating. McCluskey has the sort of conviction that appeared to be going out of fashion until Mhairi Black arrived in the Commons, making him believable – regardless of whether you agree with his views. Something leadership candidates should ignore at their peril.

Les Bright

Exeter, Devon

• Your interview with Len McCluskey has a sidebar which says that “30,000 Unite members have joined the Labour party in order to support Jeremy Corbyn’s candidacy”.

This is not in the full text, and it is also wrong. Thirty thousand Unite members may well have signed up as affiliated Labour supporters (not joined as members). They will have done so for a variety of reasons, and are likely to vote for different candidates, because they are individuals making their own decisions. This is not a block vote, any more than it was in 2010 when 111,270 Unite members voted and fewer than half chose Ed Miliband, the candidate recommended by their leadership. Quotes like this play into the hands of the rightwing conspiracy theorists, and are unhelpful to those of us trying to run a democratic process.

Ann Black

Oxford

Our doctors, scientists, engineers, writers, actors and other professionals are vital to the quality of our lives Joan Green

• At last a move against tuition fees from within the Labour party (Corbyn’s initiative, 16 July). Our doctors, scientists, engineers, architects, writers, actors and other professionals are vital to our survival and the quality of our lives. Whoever thought it was a good idea to make people pay to acquire these essential skills from which we all benefit? As a society we must be prepared to invest in the future by supporting our higher education system. In any case, the students of today will be the taxpayers of the future.

Joan Green

Bourn, Cambridgeshire

• “Who should Labour speak for now?” asks John Harris (13 July). One possibility is: speak for the regions. Embrace devolution again. It’s a theme that would resonate in the north-east, in Yorkshire and in the north-west, where people voted Labour but got a Tory government.

Properly formulated as democratic devolution to the communities within the regions, it would appeal to voters in the south-west, in once-Labour cities like Plymouth, Gloucester and Bristol; and in the Marches, where Worcester and Shrewsbury used to turn out for Labour. It would give Scots an alternative to the separatist SNP. And it would show some long-overdue regard for the band of faithful citizen activists – councillors and others, up and down the country – who have kept faith with their localities in spite of the continual attrition of their spheres of responsibility as government becomes more and more centralised. Gordon Brown, in these pages a few weeks ago, suggested a constitutional convention to debate the possibilities for radical structuralchange. It’s a deliberation which Labour should begin now.

Christine Hartas

Newcastle upon Tyne