Thank you to Jonathan Freedland for his insightful article about the issues concerning asylum seekers (Gary Lineker spoke his mind. Now we should too: fate could have put any one of us in those migrant boats, 10 March). I would just take issue with his statement that Gary Lineker has “deployed the wrong analogy” in saying the language is “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s”. I beg to differ. I believe the analogy was very well chosen.
“Not dissimilar” means there may be points of similarity; it does not mean that words and deeds correspond exactly. Anyone who watches series one of the BBC’s Rise of the Nazis will quickly see the truth of Mr Lineker’s words. In 2023, just as in Germany in the 1930s, we see the government curbing our right to engage in demonstrations, seeking to undermine the judiciary, making it less easy to cast a vote, and dehumanising and othering minority and migrant groups. Need I say more?
