SIR – In one short letter (T&A, June 9), Mike Pollard manages to dismiss republican government as eccentric, despite two of the most successful economies on the planet (USA and Germany) being republics, write off the NHS and insult public service workers generally.

But he also, I assume unwittingly, exposes the hollowness of the coalition’s claim to support social mobility by mocking John Prescott. It was he, after all, who left school at 14 and by his own effort worked his way up to the second-most important position in the Labour Party.

Contrast that with the likes of Cameron, Osborne and Clegg, who having started at the top and seem bent on making sure that no-one lower down gets ahead of them.

Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley