Letter: Ball in Ed's court

When Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair he tried to change - to smile, to be collegial, empathetic, open to other people's views - for about a month.

I wonder how long the new improved Ed Balls, all soft and cuddly, not plotting against his colleagues, hiding his intellectual arrogance under a bushel, will last.

Balls was bullied at school for his surname and his stammer and Brown felt out of his depth at Edinburgh University after dominating the industrial graveyard of South Fife.

At some stage both decided to become the aggressor, going ballistic, shouting and threatening people, humiliating colleagues and endlessly briefing against them.

Can Balls break all his old habits? Can the clone learn from the glaring failures of the original? I doubt it. As many a forlorn wife will attest, most men don't change.

(Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews

I have never had any doubt as to the intellectual capacity and competence of the shadow cabinet but I am pleased to see that they now have the Balls to carry the fight to the coalition.

George Cooper

Westgate

Leslie, Fife