Diane Abbott denies that Travellers, Irish and Jewish people ever, at any point in their lives and at any point in history, experience racism (“Racism is black and white”, Letters). She justifies this by observing that “Jewish people… were not required to sit at the back of the bus”. Maybe not, but Jewish people were rounded up on to trains and transported to death camps – to say nothing of the pubs and hotels whose signs used to read: “No Jews, no Blacks, no Irish.”
I would be delighted to invite Ms Abbott to my synagogue, where she can meet the security volunteers who keep us safe from antisemitic attacks, and watch us reading from a Torah scroll saved from destruction during the Holocaust. Perhaps, then, she will understand how inappropriate it is for a public figure to make extraordinary and inflammatory remarks such as denying the existence of anti-Jewish racism.
Rabbi Gabriel Kanter-Webber
Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue
Diane Abbott is quite staggering in her wilful and woeful comments. As an MP for one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country, and as a history graduate, how can she be unaware of the history of the Jewish people, millions of whom suffered unspeakable racism in one century alone, let alone over the millennia?
I am of a similar age to Ms Abbott, and sadly knowledgeable of the history of racism towards black and Jewish people. I grew up proudly aware of the role that Jews in many countries, not least the US and South Africa, played in fighting – and dying – against the unbelievable racism in those countries.
Does she not appreciate how insulting her words and views are to many Jews in this country, as well as to the memory of millions who suffered at the hands of racism throughout the world?
Mark Dines, former secretary general European Union of Jewish Students
Northwood, Middlesex
Speaking as a Jewish person (born and lifelong) and after 40 years married to an Irishman, I have to say that Diane Abbott is absolutely right. Of course Irish and Jewish people don’t suffer the racial abuse that Black people do – day in, day out. We are not immediately picked out as different and the police do not stop us if we drive nice cars. (Benjamin Zephaniah sold his BMW because he got stopped by the police so many times in it.) We do not worry, as Black families do, whether our children will be either racially attacked or falsely arrested by the police on their way home from school or a night out.
She speaks from bitter experience and she is entitled to her opinion. Her letter was answering an article the previous week, which was clearly there to engender a debate. Are we no longer allowed to debate issues in this country?
If Abbott – an MP who has worked hard for her constituents, which is what an MP is supposed to do – is not allowed to stand for Labour at the next election, I, as a lifelong Labour voter, will not vote Labour.
Angela Singer
Cambridge
The tourist trap
I agree with Tobias Jones: when a beauty spot is inundated with tourists, it loses its authenticity (“The world’s most perfect places are being turned into backdrops for our tourist selfies”, Comment). I felt no magic watching a sunrise in Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia alongside 40 or so other people. Visiting Granada’s Alhambra gave me the sensation of paying for the privilege of being herded around in an airport. I’ve been told that residents in the beautiful village of Hallstatt, Austria, dine in nearby motorway restaurants to avoid the long visitor queues in their town.
Less famous places give me much more pleasure because they are uncrowded, but even mentioning them publicly makes me feel I’m dooming them to a similar demise.
Franziska Fisken
Vienna, Austria
Pacts mean prizes
Re Michael Savage’s article (“Berkshire progressives go rogue in bid to oust Tories”, News): during the last district council elections in my area, in around half the boroughs there were three or more candidates standing and in the other half there were two.
In most boroughs with three or more, the Tories won; in most boroughs with only two, the Tories lost. So it is clear that having a local pact or progressive alliance, makes perfect sense if you want to beat the Tories. Until proportional representation is adopted, parties should encourage local pacts in all elections. Otherwise we will end up with another majority rightwing government, with fewer votes than the combined leftwing opposition. United we win, divided we fall.
Stephanie Ayres
Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire
Bang to rights
Your piece on the use of pots and pans as a form of protest refers to similar usage across four continents (“Furious French raid kitchen cupboards to send their president a noisy message”, World). It is worth remembering something similar a little closer to home, in Northern Ireland.
In the 1970s, when British soldiers were kicking in doors in nationalist areas and dragging men away to internment, the banging of bin lids was used to alert people to raids, usually in the middle of the night. This practice continued during the hunger strikes of 1981, with bin lids dragged slowly behind a car to signify the death of a striker. In 2019, with the onset of Brexit, the clatter of bin lids echoed all along the border with the Irish republic.
Jim Smyth
Belfast
Bring back food technology
Rather than listening to “nanny”, as Will Hutton suggests, a more effective solution to the obesity crisis would be to reintroduce food technology and nutrition as a compulsory subject at GCSE (“Britain has an obesity crisis. We won’t solve it until we start listening to ‘nanny’”, Comment).
A revitalised curriculum could offer vital education in the science of nutrition, the skills of purchasing healthy ingredients on a budget and the art of cooking delicious meals for less than the cost of a takeaway pizza. It could also offer valuable opportunities to celebrate the wonderfully diverse cuisines in our multicultural country. Children can often be the best educators.
Sarah Paterson
London NW5
Monday on my mind
“You’ve got to go two-footed into a Monday. You can’t be scared. You have to look Monday in the eye and say: ‘Here we go again. It’s another dance.’” Thanks, Tom Davis (“Sunday with…”, Magazine). That’s my Monday mantra sorted.
John Mitchell
Bristol
