We're all being duped by aliens

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Artist's concept of interstellar asteroid 1I/2017 U1 (Oumuamua) as it passed through the solar system after its discovery in October (ESO)

Lots of great reporting lately on the mysterious object now called “oumuamua” as it hurtles through space.

The consensus of opinion seems to be that it has an organic rocky coating that covers a potentially icy interior and is a purely natural phenomenon.

There is one thing I think we have overlooked – if it is a spacecraft, then the occupants are by definition more advanced than we are and would doubtless have a type of cloaking device in operation.

Therefore we would only see and hear exactly what they want us to while they monitor us with impunity. I predict more sightings shortly.

Robert Boston
Kingshill

Brexit will tear the Tories in two

My disbelief that supposedly responsible parliamentarians and government ministers (from David Cameron down) could propel the UK into the most significant political upheaval since the Second World War without even a basic plan as to what alternative position was desired, but more importantly realistically possible, has now been surpassed.

Not only has it been surpassed by David Davis’s blithe assumption that he can carry out negotiations without assessing the impact of the likely outcomes, and now the revelation that, 18 months into the process, the UK Cabinet hasn’t even had a discussion about what position it wants to negotiate its way to.

Recent comments from Michel Barnier confirm what should have been blatantly obvious to everyone from the outset, that the Brexiteers’ fantasy of a “special” have-your-cake-and-eat it deal not available to any other nations is not even on the table for discussion.

Resolving the choice between the only two realistic possible outcomes of the trade negotiations – a hard Brexit with no free trade deal, no financial services passport, no free movement of people and no subjection to the ECJ, or a soft Brexit achieving free trade in goods and services, but accepting the corollary of free movement of people and the rule of the ECJ – is likely to tear the Conservative Party in two. I assume that David Cameron’s deluded aim in starting this process was to avoid precisely this outcome.

It is likely that in attempting to reconcile the irreconcilable, the endgame will be yet another general election, at which point hopefully the British electorate will have a real and informed choice between the two options above, or possibly the third option of abandoning this madness altogether.

Stephen Marr
Western Australia

We need to provide support for families who help stop children going into the care system

One local authority in my area has announced it is going to reduce the council tax bills and increase the payments for foster carers in their area. But when are we going to read an announcement from all local authorities that such measures will be given to all those families who, for whatever reason, take into their homes their grandchildren, nieces, nephews and so on rather than allow them to go into care?

I know for a fact that there are hundreds of such families in my own area and unlike foster carers whose payments for each child start at more than £250 a week and who can get extra help to pay for new beds, bedding, prams and the like, these families receive no payments at all.

I know of a foster carer who was even given extra financial help to buy a bigger car! On the other hand, I know of an 80-year-old who took in his baby great granddaughter rather than allow her to go into care and he struggles financially. I know of a family where the granddad had retired but had to go back out to work in order to provide for his grandchildren who had to move in with him.

These people must save local authorities thousands a day – never mind a week. Let’s get this priority sorted now please, rather than later. A child will fare much better being brought up by family members, surely.

Cllr Joan McTigue
Middlesbrough

Steps need to be made to increase the number of BME judges and magistrates

So the most significant recommendation in David Lammy’s report into the treatment of black and ethnic minority people in our legal system is to be ignored. No national targets to redress the overwhelming imbalance and lack of BAME representation in the upper echelons of the judiciary.

Whines of pained disapproval emanate from the rank and file of those who have never had to struggle for anything in their lives and are horrified at the idea that there would be any interference in “the system” that benefits them and their ilk. How unfair. How un-British. People with lesser qualifications may get through over the heads of those who are more qualified/experienced (albeit entirely due to well-documented entrenched privilege and opportunity).

As a black woman and ex-lawyer, it is hard to know where to begin with this out-of-date mess of an argument. Anyone who has been paying attention recognises the false cry of the “I’m all right, Jack” tribe.

Even if we ignore the, now significant, numbers of black and ethnic minority lawyers with the requisite qualifications, aptitude and experience – there seems to be no other area in public life where lack of experience and suitability for the job matters any more anyway. Just look at the Government front bench.

Amanda Baker
Edinburgh

Whether or not a specific target is set for diversity in the judiciary, there is widespread recognition that there is a need for a diverse magistracy that reflects wider society.

While some progress has been made – in the last three years the percentage of judges who are from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds has increased from 6 per cent to 7 per cent – more can, and should, be done to ensure that vacancies within the magistracy are widely advertised to those who might not otherwise be aware of them.

This requires a proactive approach that ensures that the role of the magistracy and the benefits of becoming a magistrate are widely understood, and that specific activity is undertaken to actively engage underrepresented groups.

Magistrates’ courts are the cornerstone of the criminal justice system and all those of us working to promote the magistracy have a responsibility to ensure that the opportunity to become a magistrate is one that is open to everyone.

John Bache, national chair, Magistrates Association
London SW8