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| The UK has always prided itself on its tolerance. What have we become? | The UK has always prided itself on its tolerance. What have we become? |
| (30 days later) | |
| The poignant letters from our friends in Europe (19 December) brought tears to my eyes – tears of sadness that we might leave Europe, and of utter frustration at the lunacy of Brexit, the huge cost and opportunity lost of the last two wasted years of negotiation, the malign over-influence of the ERG, and the stubbornness of May and Corbyn. Please, someone tell me what I can do. Whom do I lobby? I already live in a country that voted remain, and my (Labour) MP is a staunch remainer. Is there a demonstration I can join? To which railing do I padlock myself? Or which runway can I lie down on? Ten years retired, I have the time.Professor Charles WarlowEdinburgh | The poignant letters from our friends in Europe (19 December) brought tears to my eyes – tears of sadness that we might leave Europe, and of utter frustration at the lunacy of Brexit, the huge cost and opportunity lost of the last two wasted years of negotiation, the malign over-influence of the ERG, and the stubbornness of May and Corbyn. Please, someone tell me what I can do. Whom do I lobby? I already live in a country that voted remain, and my (Labour) MP is a staunch remainer. Is there a demonstration I can join? To which railing do I padlock myself? Or which runway can I lie down on? Ten years retired, I have the time.Professor Charles WarlowEdinburgh |
| • I am almost 92 and live in a care home. We have excellent staff of many nationalities, even here in rural Wiltshire. I was very upset when one of our staff, a delightful Baltic man, told me about the hostility he and his wife suffer daily on the bus and in the shops; indeed some of our own residents here do not even speak to him. I would imagine it is even worse for our African carers. The British have always prided themselves on their tolerance. What has happened? What have we become? Will this be the lasting legacy of Brexit and our current band of politicians, who seem to be either anti-European fundamentalists or too supine to speak up for what they believe in lest they offend somebody?Ruth JamesChippenham, Wiltshire | • I am almost 92 and live in a care home. We have excellent staff of many nationalities, even here in rural Wiltshire. I was very upset when one of our staff, a delightful Baltic man, told me about the hostility he and his wife suffer daily on the bus and in the shops; indeed some of our own residents here do not even speak to him. I would imagine it is even worse for our African carers. The British have always prided themselves on their tolerance. What has happened? What have we become? Will this be the lasting legacy of Brexit and our current band of politicians, who seem to be either anti-European fundamentalists or too supine to speak up for what they believe in lest they offend somebody?Ruth JamesChippenham, Wiltshire |
| • The Brexiters promised freedom from EU bureaucracy, yet you report that HMRC are going to recruit an additional 3,000 staff and hundreds more border staff (Report, 19 December). Presumably British bureaucracy is better than the EU’s.Ian ArnottPeterborough, Cambridgeshire | • The Brexiters promised freedom from EU bureaucracy, yet you report that HMRC are going to recruit an additional 3,000 staff and hundreds more border staff (Report, 19 December). Presumably British bureaucracy is better than the EU’s.Ian ArnottPeterborough, Cambridgeshire |
| • More from the magic money tree. First it’s £2bn to buy DUP support which is not then forthcoming. Now it’s £2bn allocated to a no-deal Brexit which three-quarters of MPs fiercely oppose. All this on our dime. How is that value for money?Christopher WardHennock, Devon | • More from the magic money tree. First it’s £2bn to buy DUP support which is not then forthcoming. Now it’s £2bn allocated to a no-deal Brexit which three-quarters of MPs fiercely oppose. All this on our dime. How is that value for money?Christopher WardHennock, Devon |
| • A democracy older than ours understood that people could change their minds. In 427BC the Athenian assembly sentenced to death all male citizens of Mytilene as punishment for a revolt and dispatched a ship to carry out the order. Debating the issue again the following day, wiser counsels prevailed, the decision was reversed and a faster ship sent to overtake the first, which arrived just in time to prevent the planned massacre. The lesson for our time is obvious. David Beetham and John ChurcherManchester | • A democracy older than ours understood that people could change their minds. In 427BC the Athenian assembly sentenced to death all male citizens of Mytilene as punishment for a revolt and dispatched a ship to carry out the order. Debating the issue again the following day, wiser counsels prevailed, the decision was reversed and a faster ship sent to overtake the first, which arrived just in time to prevent the planned massacre. The lesson for our time is obvious. David Beetham and John ChurcherManchester |
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