It is the tech giants who have played the biggest role in the riots

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

Regardless of events in Southport this violence was inevitable and, in all likelihood, pre-planned (PA Wire)

It would be naive to believe that the current unrest was provoked solely by the murder of three young girls. The planned, systematic nature of rioting targeting vulnerable communities strongly suggests a degree of planning, several weeks in the making.

Regardless of events in Southport, this conspiracy to test the mettle of the new government and perpetrate violence during a long hot summer was inevitable. The action was, in all likelihood, pre-planned – the better to organise and facilitate events using social media.

Sadly, the tech giants have enabled violent assembly and need to be bought to book. Profiting from the misery of others has no place within liberal democracies. Is it time to pull the plug on X and its ilk?

David Smith

Taunton

An ironic history

I assume that the irony would be lost on the pasty marauding mob that the flag of Saint George, which they carry and drape themselves in, so dearly commemorates a semi-mythical Turkish/Greek/Palestinian Roman soldier, venerated in Christian and Muslim tradition, who, had he not been executed for his religious beliefs, might be imagined to have sought refuge in a safer country.

As for the dragon bit…

Rick Biddulph

Surrey

A useful investment after all

Might the accommodation the government has already paid for in Rwanda be used for those convicted of the worst offences during the recent riots?

It would simultaneously provide some return from an otherwise wasted UK investment, supplement the current shortage of prison places, give the guilty miscreants experience of being housed as a migrant in a foreign country and act as a deterrent to would-be offenders.

David Rhodes

Nottingham

Harris has to prove she’s worth America’s vote

Americans deserve far better than the usual callous conservative or neo-faux liberal in the White House.

Frankly, it’s no longer sufficient for the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate to simply fully support party policy on core issues.

A large enough proportion of Americans are financially struggling – and many now favour the governmental implementation of some public programs, especially universal health care. Yet the Democratic National Committee consistently refuses to allow the genuinely fiscally progressive candidates like Bernie Sanders to stand as presidential nominees, however many Democrat voters want him.

For example, every county in West Virginia voted for Sanders in the 2016 primaries, yet the DNC declared them as wins for Hillary Clinton! That doesn’t sound very democratic, does it?

I find it arrogantly presumptuous of the DNC and wider party to expect economically disenfranchised citizens to vote for an establishment Democrat candidate like Kamala Harris, without putting forward progressive policies to improve the poor person’s lot in life. They are simply relying on the idea that people will vote for her just to keep out an undesirable Republican... and to wait in long, bad-weather lineups for the privilege!

Frank Sterle Jr

White Rock, Canada

The hard questions have to be asked

It appears that ABC host Rachel Scott has received death threats after her interview with Donald Trump at the National Association of Black Journalists meeting.

Who thinks it is right to threaten someone who is doing their job and doing it properly? Haven’t enough journalists been harassed, imprisoned and far too many killed in their line of work?

The hard questions have to be asked, whether you like it or not. Do not attack the questioner or cast doubt on their integrity because they don’t play to your rule book.

Tone down the threats and violence, please.

Dennis Fitzgerald

Melbourne, Australia