Your Christmas editorial (26 December) wonders why David Cameron is still "in command" and why Ed Miliband "is not currently seen as equal to this grave hour". First: successful political leadership now requires intelligence and likability. Intelligence is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Political winners, above all, have to be likable under scrutiny.

Second: if Miliband is the leader of the "red team", Cameron leads a blue and yellow team. This newly blended sage colour will always seem warmer than an austere blue. And now that the pursuit of social justice is firmly embedded in all of the three main party constitutions, it is difficult to see how a "red team" could inspire any supporters, other than those last-century socialist revolutionaries who have never accepted political relegation.

Third: a successful political leader has first to earn trust. The public will forgive ruthlessness. They will not easily forgive heartlessness and brutality. By challenging his brother for the leadership of the Labour party and by skilfully manipulating a leftwing bias within the party structure, he denied the core party membership the leader of its choice, and in doing so has probably denied the country the opportunity to warm to one of the most able centrist politicians of his generation.

Ed Miliband himself was driven by self-belief on a colossal scale. It would seem, so far, he has little else to offer.
Mike Allott
Eastleigh, Hampshire

• Nobody assesses the state of the performing arts or the high street retail trade by reference only to what people tell market researchers – primary attention is paid to bums on seats or footfall. But Patrick Wintour, finding the government Teflon-coated (2011 in politics, December 29), makes no mention of the year's five mainland byelections, the only non-theoretical measure of support for the coalition. Even allowing for the Inverclyde result – skewed by the SNP's advance against all other parties – Labour's vote share at these tests increased by an average of 9% and the Tories' fell by 7.5% on the general election. Only a fortnight ago, at Feltham and Heston, there was a swing from the Conservatives to Labour of 8.6%. For Wintour to predicate his assessment on the notion that "the Tories are neck and neck with Labour in the polls" isn't borne out where it counts: in the ballot box.
W Stephen Gilbert
Corsham. Wiltshire

• Thank you, David Lammy (The UK riots, G2, 27 December). An exact summing up of our major politico-economic issue: how to get the financial/corporate sector to take responsibility for the outcomes of its actions. Please will you now persuade Ed Miliband to address this with urgency and force, and if he fails, challenge him to resign the leadership of the Labour party while there is still time.
Alison Leonard
Chester