Jeremy Corbyn's support for Brexit is inexcusable

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Corbyn now represents a Labour Party that supports Brexit (PA)

Jeremy Corbyn’s behaviour over Brexit and his call for a three-line whip to pass a 137-word bill that serves to undermine parliamentary control over the most significant event in British history since the outbreak of the Second World War is simply inexcusable.

I did not join the Labour Party to support a movement that has aligned itself to the views and values of the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Telegraph: if I had wanted to do that I would have joined Ukip. Nor did I join the Labour Party that allows the UK to morph into what amounts to a one-party state, ruled by a supreme leader and a junta that clearly does not believe in parliamentary democracy, or common sense and British values. Welcome to post-truth Orwellian Britain.

Our parliamentary democracy is supposed to work on the basis that the primary responsibility of all our MPs is to act responsibly to serve the national interest, not to kowtow to the populist vacuous rhetoric of those in our country that shout the loudest and who intimidate those who disagree with them. This is why you and our MPs take a parliamentary oath: MPs are supposed to be the trustees of the national interest and protectors of our parliamentary system – that is what they are all paid to do. It is profoundly worrying that Corbyn as leader of the largest opposition party (and most of his parliamentary colleagues for that matter) have forgotten what is at the heart of your job description.

Corbyn’s irresponsible actions and crass incompetence has left the United Kingdom without an effective opposition. He continues to stand definitely at the helm, steering the Labour Party to race against the Tories to try and win the who looks most like UKIP race. In the meantime you have left the UK to march slowly but surely into the post-Brexit abyss in post-truth Orwellian Britain.

It is for these reasons that I am voting with my feet to leave the Labour Party to join the Liberal Democrats. I can only hope that Corbyn has the good conscience and common sense to stand down as leader of the Labour Party to join a political party that is better aligned to his objectives: Ukip seems to be the obvious choice.

J Gaskell
Address supplied

Trump’s Twitter rant about Chelsea Manning is disgraceful

I felt angry when I read remarks on Twitter made by the new President of the United States, Donald Trump, about whistleblower Chelsea Manning. It's upsetting when people – usually white men in positions of patriarchal power – attack tbe members of vulnerable minorities for perceived political advantage. It’s a form of bullying.

Trump called Manning “ungrateful” and a “traitor” after an article written by her appeared in The Guardian. These remarks are neither accurate nor fair. I thought the article in question – about the shortcomings of Obama's performance as President, his tendency to always compromise instead of being a stronger leader (for example, his failure to confront the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad, with disastrous consequences) – was honest, well-written, well-argued and accurate.

Manning was not “ungrateful” after Obama pardoned her. She tweeted her thanks to the former President after her sentence was commuted last week. She thanked him for “giving [her] a chance”.

What’s more, the information she released to the public about the gross abuses of human rights being carried out by some members of the US army in Iraq was in the interests of the United States – its honour and integrity as a nation committed to democratic values, according to its founding constitution and international treaties concerning the conduct of wars to which it is a signatory. An army which is degraded by ill-discipline and brutality is not an effective army.

Genevieve Forde
New Zealand

I cannot find a better word but to compare President Trump to a parasite. Dictionary.com explains that a parasite is “an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment”.

This is exactly what he does by being a provocateur and narcissist. Unfortunately, media assists him in spreading his germs to many people in the United States and abroad. The best way to treat diarrhoea is to avoid certain food. I strongly believe that the best way to treat Trump’s bacteria is to avoid mentioning his name at least once a week in newspapers and on TV.

Many rulers like to see their names in print. There is a story that Stalin started his day by counting how many times his name appeared in Pravda newspaper. Trump seems to enjoy it as well, and by establishing one day per week a moratorium on publishing his name, we may prevent him spreading his hateful germs even further.

Ilya Rubinstein
New York

Former MP Tom Dalyell’s death is a tragedy, both personal and political

We first met Tam Dalyell and his wife Kathleen after keen dissent began to arise over the handling of the background to the Lockerbie disaster of December 1988 in which our elder daughter Flora was amongst those brutally murdered.

There is nothing on this earth that can counter the intensity of grief at the loss of a child, but the friendship and love of Tam Dalyell and his wife Kathleen often fed our strength and determination to establish the truth about all that was really known about the disaster. We felt enriched by their friendship.

We came to know no other person, politician or not, who so exemplified true caring and integrity as did Tam and his wife.

Because Tam lived within complex strata of society close to the heart of the Whitehall establishment, he was able to elicit confidences and assess allegations with an insider's knowledge second to none. As the truth about Lockerbie began to become clear through the fog of deception he was prepared to use his privileges and the respect in which he was held to progress the search for that truth.

There was a difference of texture about Tam which stamped him immediately as a man who simply could not become contaminated with the half-truths and convenient hiding places used by those prepared to tolerate convenient fictions in order to make their lives easier or their ascent towards power smoother.

Tam did not tolerate fools gladly and many of us will long remember the message he had recorded on his answering machine, of which the key phrase was “do not gabble”. Many years of dealing with those of lesser integrity had made him a master at assessing the integrity of others, but for those he trusted there was no stauncher friend

I have no doubt that had Tam been prepared to compromise his integrity he would have risen to lead at least his party and probably his country. It was a key part of the measure of the man that he could never do that. .

We shall not see his like again, and Kathleen and the family, Linlithgow and a galaxy of other friends and acquaintances will miss him and his unique integrity of purpose for as long as memory lasts.

Jim and Jane Swire
​Address supplied

We should be taxing the rich to stop cuts

I am sick of waking up to hear on the radio the effects of further devastating cuts to education, health, social care, prisons, police, libraries and so on. There is only one remedy: raise revenue through restructuring income tax bands protecting Jams (Just About Managing) but making those who should pay more do so, and thereby reduce the ever widening gap between rich and poor, as it is the poorest who have no means of avoiding suffering from the cuts.

Anthony Phillips
Oxford

Brexit is more of a reason to study languages, not less

Do we really believe that the “study of languages in the UK will be made almost redundant if we don’t have Erasmus”?

The scheme does offer essential international experience for our students and we need to retain our EU academic colleagues. Retaining Erasmus access and international academics is critical to the high standing of UK higher education. But post-Brexit we are likely to need better and more wide-ranging language ability than ever before.

We will need to grow language and cultural capability to reach far beyond EU and European borders if we are to negotiate, build and operate new trade agreements worldwide.

The Government must recognise and commit to supporting language study in all its varieties so our young people are equipped with the vital skills they will need in a post-Brexit world. Far from rendering the study of foreign languages redundant, Brexit accentuates its urgency.

Ann Carlisle
London EC1N

Happy birthday, Milton Keynes

When you think of Milton Keynes, 50 years old this week, perhaps not the first thing that comes to mind is that at its heart, the city is about giving power to communities.

One of its unsung achievements, which has contributed to its success, is that it is the only urban area in England to have a complete coverage of local (parish, community and town) councils – 30, a number of which I helped set up as leader of Milton Keynes Council in the early 1990s

This hyper-local democracy has undoubtedly contributed to its social cohesion and sense of place of which it is rightly proud. No doubt this helped Milton Keynes successfully attract families and businesses and why it is used as a key model for new towns across the world. This is a model other urban areas in England could usefully follow in this post-Brexit world to reconnect communities with democracy.

Cllr Kevin Wilson MBE
London WC1B

Why the wall is pointless

While I understand why it is so important to Donald Trump that he secures his nation’s borders, I think that the wall he intends to build will be ineffective. As his presidency continues, I'm quite sure that people will just find other ways to flee.

Julian Self
Milton Keynes