I could not believe my eyes when the tremendous achievement of Harrogate Town FC only attracted a small headline in The Press, and only on the back page (Harrogate celebrate promotion, May 14).

Why? They are one of our North Yorkshire towns, and we should all congratulate the management, the manager and the players on this fantastic results.

As York City fall further back into the mire we should all be delighted at this feat of Harrogate reaching the National League.

My suggestion to York City is to close the club down and start again some time in the future when sufficient funds are available.

BR Lawson, Burton Fields Road, Stamford Bridge

  • Editor’s note: Harrogate Town reaching the National League is indeed a tremendous achievement. We gave this full credit with a news story on the back page of the first edition of the newspaper after the club won their play-off final against Brackley. The back page is the main page for the most important sports stories of the day.

Abolition is not the answer for Lords

Letters have recently suggested abolishing the House of Lords. I backed Brexit and believe some Lords are guilty of a moral treason against the electorate.

When the Lords complain about press headlines calling for their heads, it isn’t just the editor of the Daily Mail saying it, it’s millions of ordinary people not blind to what’s going on. However, the solution is not abolition. The system needs serious reform, as the idea of an unelected chamber is a good one. Its members can say what they really think without fear of the votes and therefore truly reflect minority views.

After all, many of us hold some opinions which, if we expressed them freely, would be used to damage us politically were we in office.

I would consider two key changes, the first being to reduce the total numbers and take quotas from groups such as the sciences, military, legal and other backgrounds.

Secondly I’d scrap the concept of parties in the chamber. Have a house composed of the wisest from all sections of our society that are unbounded, not just by elections but from the whips of the parties. We should save our wrath for the elected members that have allowed this situation to happen and have the power to overrule the Lords.

Dr Scott Marmion, Woodthorpe, York

How would you like to live under Kim?

Bravo Geoffrey Searstone, very well said in your response to Maurice Vassie’s defence of the Lords (What happened to the idea of democracy?, Letters, May 18).

The Mr Vassies of this country must walk around with blinkers on.

I wonder just what his actions would be if he and his like were living under a dictatorship. Kim Jong-un, for instance.

Mick Horsman,

Moorland Road, York