How Britain was shaped by the roads not taken | History

Martin Kettle’s piece about an exhibition in Berlin on pivotal moments in German history will, I hope, start a debate about such British moments (What would Britain look like today if we’d chosen to follow the roads not taken?, 31 May). May I suggest that the decision to go to war in 1914 is one such? The enormous loss of young British lives and the economic damage to the country still reverberate. And could we please have an exhibition in London like the one in Berlin?
Claude Scott
London

I was overjoyed to read Martin Kettle’s defence of counterfactual history. I too have always found this a valuable area of discussion, and not the pointless waste of time it is to people I’d otherwise respect. May I suggest, though, that he overlooked the single transferable vote failing by seven votes in the Commons in 1917, which could have saved us for ever from the dysfunctional politics that we have today, which is fundamentally unfit for the world we now live in.
Robin Carmody
Portland, Dorset

In a post-Brexit UK, where Welsh and Scottish nationalism may well demand more devolution, if not independence, and with Sinn Féin consolidated as the largest party in Northern Ireland, it would surely be interesting for a UK “roads not taken” exhibition to look at the breakup of the United Kingdom in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned and most of the country left the UK. Just to remind everyone that the UK has actually broken up before.
Kevin McCafferty
Tertnes, Norway

Martin Kettle ponders only one side of the Brexit question. The real alternative path in UK politics is where the Conservative party decided that the drift of voters to Ukip threatened its dominance, forcing it to absorb anti-EU rhetoric and pushing the party to ever more self-destructive policies – Brexit being the pinnacle, with idiocracy the result.
Nick Godwin
London

I read Martin Kettle’s article just after finding myself musing on the consequences of the Liberal Democrats choosing to prop up Labour after the 2010 general election rather than throwing in their lot with the Tories. No 10 years of ideology-driven austerity, no need for a Brexit vote to pacify the Tory right wing, and the promises regarding student fees being left unbroken.
Duncan Roberts
Belford, Northumberland

My contributions to Martin Kettle’s list would be to ask “What if Balfour had not made his declaration?”, or “What if the 1922 establishment of the Irish free state had included the six counties?”. He is right, the list could go on and on. Just having the thought exercise can illumine our future.
Hubert Murray
Cambridge, Massachusetts, US

I have often pondered the course of British history had the then Labour leader and Monklands East MP, John Smith, not passed away in 1994. No Tony Blair? No nationalism? A kinder social contract? Who knows.
Peter Kaminski
Glasgow

What a brilliant, deeply thought-provoking article. But what if the Manchester Guardian had folded? How different our breakfasts would be now.
Jan Arriens
Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire