To David Olusoga’s brilliant article on the history and context of the recent racist disturbances (“There can be no excuses. The UK riots were violent racism fomented by populism”), I would add just one further ideological strand: the hostile environment facing immigrants and minorities has a long postwar history. It can be traced to the notorious “rivers of blood” speech by Enoch Powell in 1968.
Ever since, there has been a bipartisan nervousness and reticence about immigration, fuelled by hostile rightwing media. There has never been a consistently robust defence and promotion of immigration and its benefits, culminating in the Brexit vote. The consensus has always been that numbers of immigrants are too high and are a problem.
Labour has historically been the party to promote race equality and justice through cumulative anti-discrimination legislation. Now is the time for a historic shift in the political discourse on immigration. If not now, when?
Gideon Ben-Tovim
Liverpool
David Olusoga’s article should be included in the curriculum in all British schools. It is heartbreaking to see young children taking part in these riots. Children are not born with prejudice; it is learned behaviour. As a white working-class woman, brought to Britain as a child in the 1950s and who took part in the campaign to remain in the Brexit referendum, I am saddened that we never learn from history. Brexit served to make Britain nasty, not great. It prompted me to regain my Irish passport. Olusoga elegantly explained that racism is always just below the surface. There are no “legitimate grievances” for the thuggery we are witnessing.
Esther Pritchard
Holyhead, Anglesey
Hear my plea on green belt
I write regarding the Labour policy to scrap green belt protections in favour of housing (“Ignore the Livids of Tunbridge Wells and build homes, but build them well”). Large housebuilding corporations want to build on green land because it is cheaper than reclaimed land and yet the quality and sustainability of their housing is so poor that these estates will be the slums of the future. They will not meet housing need which is mostly in the rented and social housing sectors and homelessness. Homes to buy are so expensive due to deliberately engineered increases in prices as a result of fiscal measures by the recent Conservative government. This could be changed.
It is not nimbyism to challenge the loss of green belt or any green land. We need to look at future needs for sustainable agriculture, rewilding, nature recovery and public use of green space. Once it is gone, it is gone.
We need to use existing housing stock more creatively and develop only on brownfield sites using high density and true affordability as criteria. I am not “Livid from Tunbridge Wells”; I am Sue Vallance living next to threatened green belt on the south-western edge of Bristol. I do want improvements in housing for those who need help and I do not deserve to be ignored.
Sue Vallance
Long Ashton, North Somerset
Rectify assisted dying bill
The Falconer bill on the right to request a medically assisted death specifically excludes all those living with unbearable and irremediable suffering but for whom the medical profession cannot guarantee death within six months (“UK has once-in-a-generation chance to allow assisted dying, says Labour peer”). This is a cruel and unnecessary exclusion. I do not share Lord Falconer’s lack of confidence in our legal system – firm safeguards can be put in place to protect the vulnerable.
May I ask MPs rectify this when the bill comes to the Commons? As Lord Falconer points out, if we don’t get it right now, it might be a generation before this long-overdue humanitarian intervention is allowed to rise to the top of the parliamentary agenda again.
Frances Lewis
London NW6
Energy scheme pitfalls
Spray-foam insulation is not the only government-endorsed energy efficiency scheme to pose potential peril (“They encouraged us to insulate our home. Now it’s unmortgageable”). Suspicious of anything that seems to good to be true, I responded to a door-knock offer of government-funded cavity insulation by checking out the pitfalls. It turns out that, with our prevailing westerly winds, “wind-driven rain” means cavity insulation can cause damp. It concerns me that many others may be storing up problems for themselves while less scrupulous traders benefit from government largesse.
David Kent
Salisbury, Wiltshire
The Tories have gone rogue
I am not surprised that the likes of Tory peer Timothy Kirkhope do not recognise their party because it has basically gone rogue and lost its moral compass (“Senior Tories’ divisive language fuelled unrest, say party grandees”). Kirkhope is correct in saying that morphing into Reform-lite would be a disaster for the Conservatives. I am a Labour supporter but do have sympathy for past ministers, who probably wake up every morning bemused by this dire trajectory. Their supposed broad church has turned into weird sect.
Judith Daniels
Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
What is Britishness?
Could somebody please provide a qualitative definition: what is Britishness (“Despite appearances, Britons are more tolerant than ever”)? What are the often-cited “British values”, and how are they different from anybody else’s? Are they better, and if so, how? Could we not all just aim for plain human values? I feel that our country would be a less combative place.
Judith Rhodes
Guiseley, Leeds
Two-tier justice
Congratulations to Ecotricity boss Dale Vince for speaking truth unto power (“Labour donor calls for review as Southport rioter is jailed for less time than Just Stop Oil protester”). These “severe” sentences for riot and affray, arson and even assaulting police officers are being measured in months, and the longest I have seen so far is 38. Those doled out for the heinous crime of peacefully trying to make our leaders change their suicidal paradigm for climate catastrophe were, incredibly, calculated in years.
It is beyond belief that committed peaceful protesters on the right side of history should be treated far more severely than the brainless bigots rioting for fun. Labour has the votes and must rescind this uncivilised legislation immediately.
Steve Edwards
Haywards Heath, West Sussex
