I CAN’T quite make my mind up about John Cumberland’s letter (HAS, June 27) in which he would welcome someone with the traits of Vladimir Putin to take charge of our country.

Is it tongue in cheek?

Why anyone would want to swap a democratic, free country for an ultra-military run regime is beyond me, but each to their own,

If he got his wish, does he realise that there would be no HAS as there would be no free press.

Does he also realise that if he called Putin what he called the PM and the Government, he would be on a strict diet of bread and water.

Now the big question, would Labour have done a better job of managing the virus? Before we all jump in with “they couldn’t have done any worse”, let’s look at the facts. Labour is split right down the middle, the two sides as far apart as ever. What would they have done differently?

A new leader, who to me honest looks like a little boy lost. A party with no end result to aim for having only the same manifesto they had at the last election, which was completely rejected by the country.

Does this look like a party who would have been more successful?

The Tories may have made mistakes, but so has a lot of countries, it’s been a case of learning on the hoof.

Gary Mundell, West Auckland