Derick Acton’s glib comment that if socialists don’t like capitalism then they should move to Cuba or North Korea is, in my opinion, insulting and typifies the extreme right’s belief that they were born to rule.

That we should simply accept it or leave the country adds weight to Harold Pinter’s words, ‘It’s so easy for propaganda to work, and dissent to be mocked’.

 Socialists gave us the NHS, pensions, the 40 hour, five day week, holiday pay, sick pay, maternity leave, health and safety at work and the Open University among many other things beneficial to the people of this country as a whole.

I wonder if Mr Acton benefits from any of those and, if so, would he be prepared, on principle, to give them up?

During two world wars millions of socialists volunteered to fight and sacrificed their lives for democracy and freedom. So why would any socialist want to leave the country now, when they are needed more than any time in the past 70 years?

Mr Acton’s other comments also typify the extreme right’s view that ‘the self’ and ‘the now’ are the only things that matter. I am tempted to tell Mr Acton to go and live in some South American dictatorship but, out of respect for those who made the aforementioned sacrifice, I won’t.

Graham Brinksman Fearnhead