The 2nd Term - What do we most want the new government to do? The answers range from abolishing private education to bringing back Mandelson

John McVicar (author and former prisoner) I would like to see the abolition of the monarchy and private schools, and taxation simplified along the lines suggested by Charles Saatchi. And I'd like to see Tony Blair resign. I dislike him because he's a Christian. He's a proper, old-fashioned, Labourite monarchist; in comparison, at least Gordon Brown has an air of strength and confidence. I'm not keen on the welfare state and I'd like to see lower taxation.

Norman Davies (historian) I think they should give priority to the devolution issue and establish a stable balance between the different parts of the United Kingdom before the present unstable arrangement is put to the test. For example, if there is a referendum on the euro, and Scotland were to vote for, and England were to vote against, there would be huge resentment in Scotland because, once again, England would simply bulldoze its way. The same is true of reforms to the NHS and education, which are high on Labour's reforming agenda. If the gap between England, Scotland and Wales were to increase, the strains on the present constitutional arrangements would be enormous. Personally, what I want is further devolution so that the English regions have similar powers to Scotland and Wales, because England is too powerful and wealthy in relation to other parts of the United Kingdom.

A S Byatt (novelist) I would like the government to make the financing of higher education more bearable for students. I accept that many students are likely to earn larger incomes, but the current funding system is crazy. They should continue to be pragmatic; I like them best when they are not being doctrinaire. And I would like them to take action to prevent cod becoming extinct through overfishing in the North and Irish Seas. They must work with Europe to impose draconian controls.

Tom Parker Bowles (entrepreneur) They should rethink the EU food and hygiene regulations and scrap the punitive abattoir restrictions. Small abattoirs are closing down at a fast rate because they simply cannot afford the hugely expensive pieces of equipment required under EU law.

Andrew Neil (editor-in-chief and publisher, Press Holdings) I look to Tony Blair in his second term to create a state school system in which the current culture of comprehensive mediocrity is replaced by a culture of excellence, ensuring that bright children from working-class backgrounds are given a world-class education: only when the bright kid on the council estate has the same chance of going to Oxbridge as the kid at Eton can the Prime Minister claim to have created a true meritocracy.

Carla Lane (animal rights campaigner and television scriptwriter) I want them to be very serious about looking into live animal exports. The thing that amazes me is that not one politician mentions animals and cruelty. They forget we are a nation of animal lovers - 88 per cent of people are against live animal exports.

William Leith (journalist) I wish that this Labour government didn't have a second term.

Bob Worcester (chairman of MORI polls) I would like the government to be honest with people.

Chris Lawrence-Petroni (deputy director, Charter 88) The next government should have a referendum on electoral reform for the House of Commons, with the aim of re-engaging people in the democratic process and dealing with the cynicism towards politics that has spread over the past four years. The government should take a coherent and radical position on the House of Lords, devolution for England, and the whole constitution.

Penelope Lively (novelist) Make teaching and nursing into desirable professions once more, and show some commitment to the nation's cultural life.

Professor Richard Sennett (director, Cities Programme, London School of Economics) Where should I start? Sort out education and the health service? Renationalise Railtrack? What they should do is just do their job; deliver on all this shit. How about giving extra bamboo to the pandas in London Zoo? It's not rocket science what they should do. Keep their word. I don't know.

Philip Kerr (author) I want the government not to abolish fox-hunting. The countryside has suffered enough in the past two years.

Matthew Evans (chairman of the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries; chairman of Faber and Faber) I want the government to make joined-up government a reality rather than a theory, and many good things will flow from this. I want it to work on standards of literacy and numeracy in schools to take Britain to the highest level in Europe, rather than where we are now. I also want it to start planning for a third term in office by working out how to engage young voters in the political process.

Julie Burchill (journalist) I have no hopes for what the government will do. I don't like them. I voted for the Socialist Alliance myself. I imagine that the gap between rich and poor will grow bigger still.

Adam Boulton (political editor, Sky News) There should be fewer MPs (say 400), better paid and resourced. Whips' control over Commons select committee membership should be outlawed, thus putting in place an alternative career structure to the greasy pole of party preference. Government should come into the open, establishing itself as an executive branch subject to proper scrutiny by the legislature.

William Boyd (novelist) Move to the left.

Simon Sebag-Montefiore (historian) I have been reading about Pompey for no very good reason, and the descriptions of this character by contemporaries reminded me of Tony Blair: no more so than the historian Sallust's belief that he was "honest in face and shameless in heart" and that he was "moderate in everything - except hunger for power". I would like the Blair government to repair the damage it has done in its first term to both the tone of politics here and the British constitution. Since they clearly have no better ideas, they should repair the House of Lords by at least allowing the hereditaries to serve on as a section of the members. They should reverse the wasteful creation of expensive and silly mini-parliaments in Scotland and Wales. They should discontinue any anti-hunting legislation and admit it for what it is - a distorted form of class envy. They should educate themselves on the countryside. And, lastly, I greatly miss the government presence of Peter Mandelson, the Prince of Darkness in a Cabinet of dull, Blairite robots. Please bring him back.

John Mortimer (lawyer and novelist) In its second term, the government should reverse absolutely everything it did in its first term, particularly on the law. Preserve the right to trial by jury; preserve the right to cross-examine in rape cases. Stop building prisons, and use the money that would be spent on them to find out how to reform criminals, to give them aftercare when they come out, rather than just giving them £10 and permission to commit worse crimes. Get rid of the ghost of Michael Howard. And sort out education: leave teachers alone; forget this attitude of sending everyone off to higher education to become computer technicians and middle managers. Send children to the opera; bring back culture.

Lynn Barber (journalist) I'm keen on new Labour. I want them to improve the health service and give pensioners more money. I wouldn't mind them taxing people like me a bit more in order to do that. And keep fox-hunting.

Anna Coote (director, Public Health Programme, King's Fund) I want the government to join the euro; renationalise and invest heavily in Railtrack; let the London government decide how to finance the London Underground; introduce paid parental leave; tax those earning more than £100,000 per annum at a higher rate; and use new funds to improve education - concentrating this time on secondary and higher sectors.

Helen Wilkinson (founder & CEO of elancentric.com; co-founder, Demos) I'd like to see them move on to the offensive, becoming change agents, winning public arguments about investment in our infrastructure: transport, the environment, public services, even - God forbid - bringing Railtrack back into the people's hands. I'd also like to see them lean on employers to take their share of responsibility, encouraging public-private investment in childcare and other issues such as the environment. This would show that socially progressive business can thrive. I'd also like to see them prioritise the change in the law to allow for all-women shortlists, because it is an outrage that, having taken two steps forward in the political genderquake of 1997, we now appear to be taking one step back. And I look forward to seeing the leadership develop a sense of humour and relax the facade of control a little.

Carole Stone (president, the Media Society) I think the next government must get a real grip on the health service - not just talk about it. The NHS must provide a fast, first-class and friendly service that recognises that we are the taxpayers and the owners of this service. Patients should not be patronised or treated like a nuisance by managers, doctors and nurses. I am tired of NHS staff saying it is someone else's problem and they are not responsible. It is quite wrong that doctors and nurses seem unable to ensure that wards are kept clean, or that they can allow the meals to be delivered only to be taken away untouched because no one has helped the patients, often the elderly, to eat them.

Mark Seddon (editor, Tribune) They must not privatise the welfare state. If they do, they'll face huge resistance from the unions, the Labour left and, above all, the general public. People will not accept NHS privatisation. In the next five years, they've got to do what they failed to do in the past four, which is to redistribute wealth and cut the gap between rich and poor - which has been growing under new Labour. They must get back to what the Labour Party was once about. If, as seems likely, they use an increased majority to justify a move even further to the right, I ask how dare they do this to the Labour Party, founded 100 years ago to defend working people? It's a deadly serious matter; how bloody dare they!

Suzanne Moore (writer) Like everyone else, I just want this government to do the bleedin' obvious and sort out the public sector - schools and hospitals and transport. This means redistribution. No way round it. Using the word radical to mean privatisation fools no one. Some other things that I would like them to do are: put nurses' pay up by at least 50 per cent; stop sucking up to the slacker President Bush; hit the politics of self-interest by dismantling private education, and ending this horrible caste system. Repeal Section 28. Take on business to give working parents real, not pretend, rights. Ban GCSEs and give teenagers a break. Stop being so naff. Get some women and give them proper jobs, or otherwise programme themselves to self-destruct within 12 months . . .

Susie Orbach (psychotherapist) I want the government to: revamp the system for refugees and asylum-seekers, so they are welcomed and treated with respect; restore the right to jury trial; involve banks and communities in projects that are not required to have quick economic returns, but are sustainable and reflect environmental and social concerns; legalise - not just decriminalise - marijuana and other drugs; fund emotional literacy programmes for teachers, administrators and students; make classes in the emotional aspects of parenting available to all parents; pay teachers a lot more money, and let them teach and encourage thinking rather than prepare children for tests; take on the long-hours culture by limiting the working week and redistributing the work that is available; train more doctors; train more nurses and give them more authority; cancel remaining third world debt.

Adair Turner (vice-chairman, Merrill Lynch Europe) It should join the euro, both for economic reasons and as a definitive commitment to Britain's European future. It should implement planned investments in health, education and transport, but answer also the long-term issue of how we deal with limitless healthcare demand. And it must be braver on green issues, using higher fuel taxes and congestion charges, offset by lower income taxes.

Professor Ben Pimlott (warden, Goldsmiths College) I would like the second Blair government to treat educational institutions not as recalcitrants that have to be cajoled into following a new Labour agenda, but as responsible bodies of public servants who can be entrusted with public funds. I would also like it to be less restrictive in its attitude to spending. At present, there are ample resources for well-meant schemes that arouse little interest, and not enough for the basics - such as staff salaries, student accommodation or a coat of paint.

Mick Hume (editor, spiked-online.com) What I would most like the next Labour government to do is . . . less. Life in Britain would be all the better for fewer bills, orders, targets, tables, quangos, commissions, inquiries, reviews, codes and tsars. Let teachers teach, parents parent, doctors be doctors and children be children. Perhaps the government could then concentrate on a little matter like the economy, the one area of policy that it appears to have abandoned by handing it over to those nice people at the Bank of England, who got even fewer votes than the Tories.

Maggie Gee (novelist) The new government should rethink its education policies. Universities and colleges desperately need more money, and it is appalling that we have become accus-tomed to the idea of students paying fees and finishing their degrees with £15,000 or more of debt. The prospect of higher education is currently far more attractive to those from well-off backgrounds. If you want a fairer society, anything that deters bright people from poorer families from reaching their full potential is a tragedy.

Zac Goldsmith (editor, the Ecologist) Globalisation is not, as Tony Blair has said, "irreversible and irresistible". There is an alternative, and we should pursue it. Instead of subsidising the biggest businesses; instead of shaping the global infrastructure to accommodate our trade obsession; instead of externalising the inefficiencies (waste, pollution, social breakdown, illness) of the global economy so that the biggest operators appear more efficient - we can reverse these trends. We can demand support for our local producers, restrictions on dangerous imports, protection for our local economies.

Compiled by Alexander Barley and Carola Mamberto

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