Nesrine Malik rightly urges us to call out the authoritarianism of the people running our country (Today, even the experts must pass a phoney patriotism test, Journal, 9 March). We could go one stage further and remind ourselves that they did not get where they are through the “will of the people”. They are sustained by a large Commons majority produced by duplicity and a clapped-out electoral system. If we focus on their anti-Europe stance, they can be seen as a minority. Anti-EU parties did not win a majority of the vote in the election. The Tories cleverly avoided a confirmatory referendum as polling consistently suggested a majority against leaving. The incompetence of opposition parties did not help. It may not be too far-fetched to suggest that we can learn from the patterns of resistance that eventually contributed to the liberation of peoples in the old eastern European bloc. Of course the UK, at least in theory, has many of the defences against tyranny that had been extinguished in those countries. However, as well as calling out the ugly aspirations of the Johnson-Cummings command centre, we should not underestimate the forces that put them where they are. Those controlling the Conservative party will ruthlessly defend the electoral system, and whoever gets to be Labour leader will not be able to avoid questions about that. Meanwhile, it is time to identify centres of cultural resistance beyond the very necessary activities of opposition political parties. These might include imaginative local authorities, some sections of the media, some academic and faith communities, poetry and drama groups – even real ale micropubs! Nesrine Malik’s rallying cry demands responses from the ground up. Geoff Reid Bradford • The disturbance caused by the defenestration of Sajid Javid, the disruption produced by the resignation of Philip Rutman, and the widespread unease at the mean-spirited Mary Beard affair (and the British Museum’s apparent subversion of No 10’s plan to block her appointment as a trustee) have demonstrated that Downing Street’s attempts to centralise control will be met with fierce resistance. And that’s even before the opposition to Boris Johnson’s English nationalism in the rest of the UK is taken into account. Britain, its liberal roots planted deep and strong, will stay a very free society despite Brexit. Johnson and Dominic Cummings may well find that their efforts to remake the country in their own divisive image end up causing them immense bother, with very modest final results. Joe McCarthy Dublin, Ireland • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters • Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition