Letters to the Editor: Replace the electoral college system in US
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Donald Trump’s popular vote victory may intensify bipartisan support to abolish the electoral college process.
This system is backed by Republicans as one designed to balance representation between densely and sparsely populated states.
In reality, the system has favoured Republicans who have won elections while losing the popular vote at odds with the will of the majority.
However, Trump’s 2024 win, contrasts with 2016, where he won the electoral college despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.9m votes.
This recent outcome challenges the traditional Republican support for the system, as it highlights that the popular vote can benefit their candidates as well.
Trump’s victory underscores that the electoral college may no longer give any party a distinct advantage.
This shift in perspective could be pivotal in opening bipartisan support for a popular vote system.
If Republicans no longer see a clear advantage, the US might be closer than ever to replacing the electoral college with a system that aligns with the principle of “one person, one vote”.
This approach would ensure every citizen’s vote carries equal weight, regardless of state boundaries, fostering a more cohesive national electorate and mending a deeply divided nation.
While the lament over the standard of children’s handwriting (and presumably, punctuation and spelling) is understandable, it must be remembered that English is a living language, and all living languages are subject to slow change over time.
Italian, French, and Spanish were all once distinct dialects of Latin that eventually became distinct languages.
The English we speak today would be unrecognisable to an ‘English’ speaker from the 10th century.
Medieval manuscripts were often limited to the region where they were copied, reflected local language usage, and meant to be heard read aloud as literacy levels were very low up to the 15th century.
Private, silent reading as practiced today by most people who read was far more rare in the early middle ages.
When Gutenberg invented the moveable-type printing press in the 15th century this technological breakthrough was hailed not only for how it helped spread information and literacy, but also how it helped standardise languages and spellings.
If we are to print several thousand copies of the same book for a wide market, we suddenly need to take into account what spellings and usages will reach the widest audience.
Widespread agreement on things like grammar and punctuation promote mutual intelligibility — people can understand each other more easily — and therefore also the spread of ideas.
The internet has been hailed as ‘the new printing press’ in terms of its impact but ironically it has had the opposite effect on spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
It may wel B B4 long ppl wil speek very difrint forms of Inglish + u wil C difrent dialekts apeer with unused words yeeted out and nu words apeering.
The results R hard 2 predikt but some things are sure: All English literature up 2 the 21st century wud rekwire translation 2 continu 2 B read + undrstud by futur generations, just as Anglo-Saxon now requires either training or translation 2 B understood.
This may B one of the last, or penultimate, generations to be easily able to read Dickens or Tolkien without translation.
Mutual intelligibility is also likely to become more regionalised, and in 100 or 200 years ‘English’ speakers in the USA, Australia, and the UK may struggle to understand each other the way French, Spanish, and Italians do now.
The global reach of technology may slow down the separation of these dialects but sooner or later, it’s likely to happen.
As the holidays approach, everyone is preparing for their secular or religious festivals.
However, it is also the time of year for the usual criticism of the term ‘Xmas’.
Some pundits bemoan it as anti-Christian to use it instead of the full ‘Christmas’.
This is usually much to the glee of others who see it as a strike against tradition.
However, the term ‘X-mas’ doesn’t change anything.
‘X’ is the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of Christós, this became Christ in English.
So, it is actually more traditional to say Xmas, than using the westernised term Christmas; which, if we are being honest, rolls of the tongue a lot nicer (from a linguistic point of view).
Happy holidays
As someone who has, over the past several decades, read numerous books and countless newspaper columns regarding the Second World War and the Holocaust, the extermination of millions of Jews by Hitler and the Third Reich, always left me filled with profound sadness and anger.
I have, like countless others, watched TV documentaries showing images of Auschwitz, Belsen, etc.
We have seen black and white film and pictures of human carcasses pitched into ready-made mass graves, piled high on top of one another.
We have seen the films and stills of the emaciated, pitiful inmates of the death camps and wondered: “How could this happen?”
All of those events leaves a lasting and permanent indelible memory on anyone who had observed those images.
Consequently one could have an amount of empathy, with the Jewish state, albeit whilst being well aware of they being the occupiers of huge tracts of Palestinian lands, etc.
The savagery of the killings and kidnappings of Israelis by Hamas in October 2023 could not be condoned in any shape or form.
However, the genocidal war waged by Israel on the Palestinian people is unforgivable, and hopefully in the years ahead, the Israeli state will be brought to book.
Finally, the way I at any rate will view Israel from here on in, following the slaughter of so many innocent civilians, will be far different from what it was in the past.
I do not like Donald Trump. I do not like his lies, his misogyny, and his insults. In fact he is a pretty horrible guy for someone in public office.
But I have to admire him for his victory. He kept his message simple... the economy and immigration.
What did we know about Kamala Harris?
Besides her pro-choice views and her sanctimonious hatred for her opponent, we knew little else about her.
Trump may have won but in reality it was an own goal by the Democrats that won him the match.
The Child Law Project examines and reports on judicial child care proceedings.
It provides information to the public on the operation of the child care system in the courts, with the aim of promoting transparency and accountability.
The project strives at all times to be fair and balanced in its reporting, and to respect the anonymity of the parties and any children involved in the proceedings.
The recent findings of the Child Law Project reports that vulnerable children are falling through the cracks, which is an analysis of more than 340 child care proceedings in the courts around the country since 2021.
The report highlights a lack of government policy, planning, and strategy relating to child protection and an increased focus by the courts on the lack of appropriate care placements for children.
The report also features a survey revealing child care cases that are still being heard alongside other cases in often crowded court lists, despite a legal requirement that they should be heard separately.
In 2024, this is totally unacceptable for any government to have such a laissez faire attitude towards the vulnerable children of Ireland.
This has to be a wake-up call to the next government to prioritise the needs of these children.
Regarding the article — ‘Campaign for dyslexic students to be given extra exam time gains momentum’ ( , October 8).
We are failing our children.
We are not supporting them to reach their full potential.
They have a right to education and if this means accommodations so be it.
Are we as a society following the articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child?
Every child has a right to education.
If they are not supported then they are not being educated because there is a barrier to their education.