INSTEAD of apologising for things that happened 50 years ago (Australian orphans), why doesn’t Gordon Brown apologise for things that have affected the British people of today?

The £5 billion-a-year tax raid on pensions; selling gold reserves at rock-bottom prices; uncontrolled immigration and broken promises of a European referendum.

We are now ruled mainly by Brussels, the ultra-rich and the banks. General elections are simply held to portray an illusion of democracy and to deflect interest from the truth.

We are voting for parties whose MPs are bullied by the whips into voting against the wishes of the electorate, and taking the party line, such as Labour’s pathetic blustering over the MPs expenses scandals. Then they wonder why people don’t vote.

Can anyone say when we are going to get a true democracy, such as Switzerland, with public referenda on life-changing issues?

The Queen’s Speech (ie the Prime Minister’s election speech) was directed at the seriously gullible; full of bribes, goodies and empty promises.

I shall be judging Labour on the last 12 disastrous years.

The promised number of new houses to be built by this Government has now dropped from three million to 200,000.

Paul Thirwell, Cornlands Road, York.