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Immigrants aren’t our enemies, Zia Yusuf | Letter

Immigrants aren’t our enemies, Zia Yusuf | Letter

A secondary school student responds to Reform UK’s plan to create an ICE-style agency to deport thousands of people Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s new home affairs spokesperson, has said that he will secure Britain’s borders to make us feel safe ( 22 February ). My response, as a classmate of immigrants, a friend of immigrants and the child of immigrants, is that it is not immigrants who make me feel unsafe, it is the idea that my friends who have lived here nearly their whole lives could face deportation. It is the idea that my friends will face harassment and abuse because they don’t look or sound “British”. I am scared, and my friends are scared, of politicians who have the power to break up our communities and don’t seem to view us as people. Immigrants aren’t villains – they are our doctors and nurses, our restaurant owners and shopkeepers, our teachers and friends and families. Continue reading...

Taxpayers should not have to pay for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s massages | Letters

Taxpayers should not have to pay for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s massages | Letters

Transparency on how our money is spent is essential to maintain confidence in the workings of the state, says Dan Owen . Plus letters from Katheryne Schulz and Bernard Harper Public trust depends on rigorous oversight of how taxpayer money is spent. When publicly funded institutions allow office holders to charge personal services to expenses, it raises serious questions about accountability and public office. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor charging his massage services on expenses while a trade envoy is utterly shocking ( Report, 23 February ). Clear rules, full transparency and repayment, plus punishments for malfeasance where costs fall outside the public interest, are essential to maintaining any basic minimum of confidence in the working of the state. Taxpayers should not bear the burden of private benefits, and institutions that rely on public funding should lead by example in rectifying and calling back questionable expenditures. Continue reading...

Trump’s war on Iran and regime change | Brief letters

Trump’s war on Iran and regime change | Brief letters

US policy | From defence to prevention | International law | Nuclear capability As civilian casualties pile up under rubble – 165 people including little girls were blown to bits in a school in Tehran ( Report, 1 March ) – the world faces perhaps its greatest irony. Donald Trump has initiated an illegal war , which has no congressional approval, while calling on the people of Iran to rise up. No one would argue that Iran hasn’t committed atrocities against its people, but this from a regime that has its own masked ICE thugs killing people in broad daylight on the streets of US cities and “ disappearing ” them into camps . Is there another country on the planet that needs “regime change” more than the US? Amanda Baker Edinburgh • As a 71-year-old grandmother, I am concerned for future generations as we see the legal basis for an attack from one or more nations on another change from defence to prevention ( Editorial, 2 March ). Even more concerning is the fear of other nations in calling this out. Are we so frightened of Donald Trump that we stay quiet in case of future retaliation? It is a classic case of bullying. Denise Denis Wells, Somerset Continue reading...