Angry, what did you make of Star Trek Beyond? – Robbie, Glasgow

I thoroughly enjoyed it, Robbie! At its best, Star Trek has always delivered clever social commentary wrapped up in captivating action and witty science fiction set-pieces. Star Trek Beyond is no different, with the main message of the film centring around the importance of unity and working together across numerous cultures to benefit everyone. This, as you can imagine, is in stark contrast to the message of self-interest and intolerance currently permeating modern British politics.

Indeed, the villain of Star Trek Beyond, an embittered individual known as Krall, has a lot in common with Boris Johnson. Aside from being equally hard to look at, Boris and Krall seemingly have a shared desire to bring an end to liberal coalitions; in the case of Krall, the United Federation of Planets, and in the case of Boris, the European Union. Worse yet, neither character has a clue what to do after accomplishing their destructive goals. They both agree that neither galactic nor European alliances are good, but they seemingly only wish to replace these partnerships with chaos, egotism and war – as both Krall and Boris Johnson wrongly consider this atmosphere to bring out the best in mankind.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Humanity is at its strongest when it is working together, regardless of gender, colour or creed, to overcome famine, disease and conflict. Although never strictly stated in Star Trek Beyond, it would seem that Krall shares Boris’ anti-immigration views, as he seemingly hates the Federation’s free movement of aliens policy.

Sadly, Krall just can’t accept that sometimes an extra-terrestrial is the best person for the job. After all, if we didn’t allow the Vulcans in, who would be the science officer on the Enterprise? In fact, even the comparatively straightforward human diversity on the famous vessel might be too much for even modern-day Boris to handle. Although most of us would never object to the idea of a spaceship being operated by two Americans, a Scotsman, an African, a Russian, a dude with pointy ears and a homosexual Asian, this would be enough to cause the minds of some Tories to explode. Especially when you consider that all of these individuals are performing their noble deeds without being paid.

You see, money doesn’t exist in the 23rd century, and I would imagine that the acquisition of wealth no longer being the driving force in life would be a truly alien concept to most Conservatives. Certainly, the notion of people working simply to better themselves and the rest of humanity would be enough to make any Tory barf! So, on the grounds that Star Trek Beyond is entirely incompatible with the views of Ukip, the Tories and Donald Trump supporters, I’d highly encourage giving it a watch this weekend!

Is America doomed? – Hunter, Edinburgh

Hunter, American citizens must suffer a great deal during election years. I mean, knowing that you’re almost never going to be represented by someone you believe in can hardly be conducive to great faith in your country. It’s rather astonishing that secession is not discussed more openly in the US mainstream media. I mean, it’s quite amazing that a nation of nearly 320 million have whittled their search for a President down to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

In effect, America has a straight choice between an egocentric clown and a power-hungry liar. When you think about it, either description could apply to either candidate. It still baffles me that Hillary Clinton was seen as the best person for the Democratic nomination. Faced with the challenge of the clueless and careless Trump, the Presidential gladiatorial battle would have been a cakewalk for a competent nominee. Instead, the Democrats opted for another corrupt Clinton.

It is true that Hillary, if elected, will become the first female President of the USA. While this is undoubtedly admirable, the accolade becomes tarnished somewhat when we remember that Clinton supported numerous overseas wars, and ultimately offers no promise of change to what careerist politicians have offered the USA in the past 50 years.

That said, Hillary is now seemingly the only way to stop the rise of Diabolical Donald. The USA has a proud tradition of electing hilariously underqualified officials to public office. But whereas Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse “The Body” Ventura at least had some sort of success in their pre-political careers, Trump’s only claim to fame is being a straw-haired buffoon who just happened to be born into money. It is rather foolish to assume that someone born into such terrific wealth is ever going to have much consideration for the poorest in society – and Trump has made it clear that he is no exception. The Donald is clearly of the belief that receiving attention is more important than being attentive, and I’d like to think that the idea of Trump having access to nuclear weapon codes would be enough to dissuade anyone from voting for him. Yet his campaign has been arguably one of the most successful in US history.

The nightmarish predicament America finds itself in can be attributed to one unfortunate universal factor: money talks. You’ll never see a working-class President of the United States again. Why? Because they can’t afford to buy power. We are living in the age of the megalomaniac, and the illusion of choice has never been more apparent. Hillary Clinton is just another brick in the wall that separates the elite from the ordinary. While America has long been championed as the “land of the free”, I fear that with Trump at the helm, it’ll be better described as the “land of the toupee”. The US might remain the “land of the brave”, but the “brave” in question will be those who stand up to Trump and his cockamamie ministry of hate and fear. Unfortunately, the most effective method of rallying against Donald’s abhorrence might now be to opt for the slightly lesser of two evils in Hillary Clinton.