Brexit has turned into a war against the soul of the UK

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Brexit has turned us into an utterly divided country. Raising the state pension age, forcing pensioners to pay national insurance contributions, the sale of the NHS to a foreign country, and insulting the previously untouchable royal family (I’m looking at you, Nigel Farage) have become common currency.

Add to that the recent events where we have what appears to be a serial misleader as a PM. Boris Johnson is less than two months into the job – and heading for the Supreme Court on an accusation of yet more misleading statements, this time to Her Majesty.

That court – whose quality and independence was accepted by everyone – will now probably be attacked by friends of said PM.

Brexit has taken on a whole new aspect – revolution is not too strong a word.

This has become a fight for the soul of the UK.

D Thomas
Gwent

Progressives must work together

​After a momentous week in politics, we have experienced the fruits of cooperation at Westminster. It cannot be stressed enough that progressive parties need to work together.

Nigel Farage has offered to form an electoral pact with the pro-Brexit Conservatives, which they have rejected. But if this were to happen, it would change the arithmetic of politics for the worse and would result in a real advantage for the Brexit Party in a forthcoming general election. In order to counter this eventuality, progressive parties – Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens, SNP, Plaid, TIG – must work together and hopefully form electoral pacts in order to neutralise any advantage that a Tory/Brexit Party pact would have. Otherwise it is entirely possible that it could lead to a Tory/Brexit landslide under our first-past-the-post electoral system.

This past week has shown how much more effective cooperation is over divisive party politics. This proposal may be opposed by some party members, but if it were to be organised in a fair and proportionate manner for a strict time limit, it would give the progressive opposition parties an equal playing field, thereby insuring a more balanced outcome in a general election. It would also go a long way to stopping Britain being dragged closer to being a low-tax, Singapore-type economy with poor environment and employment standards.

Justin Beament
Crediton

Operation Yellowhammer

I wonder if the choice of the name “Yellowhammer” for the scenario after a no-deal Brexit was down to the fact that the song of the bird of the same name has a rhythm which sounds like “a little bit of bread and no cheese”. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings... and little yellow birds!

Colin Burke
Cumbria

Why didn’t we see this before?

I have not yet heard anyone in the media ask why the consequences of a no-deal Brexit were not sought and made available to voters before the referendum. The fact that this didn’t happen with such a momentous issue points unequivocally to gerrymandering by the government, and complicity by some parts of the media who don’t question this obvious evidence for it.

Andrew Mclauchlin
Stratford-upon-Avon

Recycling the old way

Phoebe Weston highlights how complex seemingly straightforward solutions to recycling can be (MPs call for tax on all single-use plastic packaging, 12 September). As she points out, many “solutions” can be shown to have an environmental cost when looked at in depth. Reuse seems to be the most viable option available, and it is gratifying to read that some retailers are seriously investigating this option.

It should be remembered that until fairly recently – the 1950s and 1960s – a deposit was payable on soft drink and beer bottles, to be redeemed on return to the retailer. Even if the purchaser was disinclined to go to the trouble of returning the bottles, youngsters were more than happy to augment their meagre pocket money by taking the empties back. Of course, we live in a different world now where, unless the deposit was significant, say £1 per bottle, youngsters would probably be unwilling to go to the trouble.

However, the general public is becoming more aware of the environmental costs, and public pressure, rather than financial inducements, will hopefully be an effective deterrent to the unacceptable pollution of our planet.

Patrick Cleary
Gloucestershire