Letters: Cameron defames the British people

The following letters appear in the 19th February edition of the Independent

British Prime Minister David Cameron arrives for a European Union leaders summit addressing the talks about the so-called Brexit and the migrants crisis in Brussels, Belgium

David Cameron consistently uses the phrase “the British people” and implies, when conversing with other leaders, that he is representing what the British people want. As I sincerely hope to see British working people continue to benefit from EU employment protection laws, workplace rights, free movement of people, the continued upholding of human rights through the ECHR, and proper in-work benefits for people being paid insufficient wages for their endeavours, many of his “reforms” are most certainly not what this British person wants, at all.

Furthermore, I feel that any impression he gives his peers of the innate selfishness of individual British people, myself included, amounts to nothing less than defamation of character.

I Christie

Dersingham, Norfolk

I don’t suppose that I am the only one to feel threatened, baffled and misled over the Brexit debate. But if we cut through the fog of propaganda, deceit and disinformation and ask what is driving this, then maybe some clarity will emerge.

The Tory party leadership have gone along with this dangerous charade because they perceive a threat from Ukip and are frightened of their own backbenchers.

However, leaving the moderating influence of the EU would give a free hand to the likes of John Redwood, Liam Fox, Oliver Letwin and Iain Duncan Smith. No wonder they are campaigning to leave!

It may be what they want, but is it what we want?

David McKaigue

Wirral

Not since the turn of the century have I come across as many scare stories in the media. Back then, horror upon horror, computer systems were going to collapse due to the Millennium bug, with the consequence of aircraft falling out of the skies and banking systems facing meltdown.

We are now faced with another horror and the end of civilisation as we know it. Pulling out of the EU, we are told, will prove an unmitigated disaster for all of us. Only recently we have been informed by none other than Dame Carolyn McCall of easyJet that airfares will go through the roof if we withdraw from the EU, with only the elite being able to afford to fly. Well really! Can you imagine Portugal, Spain and especially Greece discouraging tourists when they are desperate for every groat they can scrape together? With regard to Spain, the economy of the Canary Islands would collapse without its year-round tourist trade.

Dave Haskell

Brithdir, Ceredigion

The supporters of the EU cite internationalism but while they insist the EU ensures freedom of movement the Mediterranean has become a mass graveyard for refugees, and desperate human beings rot in squalor in the camps at Calais and Dunkirk.

Meanwhile David Cameron negotiates in the EU insisting that if the UK is to remain, it must be allowed to deny benefits to migrants and their children. This from the leader of a government which has let multinationals like Google pay a fraction of the tax they owe. I’m an internationalist and an anti-racist – I’d argue the EU is neither.

Sasha Simic

London N16

The Second World War ended in 1945, over 70 years ago, and yet you get the impression that Ukip and many Conservative extremists have failed to realise it. We declared war upon Germany, not the other way around. We were not under attack until we got involved. And we did that to help defend other European countries.

Then, in part to ensure that no further European wars came about, the Union was decided. We are the third-largest member of the EU and the people who now want us to leave are, to my mind, being disrespectful of all those who died. They wanted to ensure not only peace, but co-operation.

I want a united Europe, and Britain should take the lead. If not, we will end up with an isolated Little England.

Richard Grant

Burley, Hampshire

Once again we have the spectacle of “all night negotiations” in Brussels on matters of vital interest. The European Working Time Directive was introduced to prevent overtired workers making errors. Shouldn’t the directive apply to the masters as well as the servants?

Dr John Doherty

Stratford-upon-Avon,

Warwickshire

Universities still failing to reach out

It is very disappointing that our traditional universities are still failing to improve participation rates from poorer students (“Higher education ‘access gap’ grows”, 18 February). There is no easy fix, but we can start by making sure that young people are not only aware of all the options open to them through high-quality careers advice, but also that these options are affordable and accessible.

Further education colleges have a rich tradition of providing higher education and higher level skills, and a higher proportion of entrants from backgrounds where people have traditionally not participated in HE. Their fees are much lower than universities’ and enable people to stay in their local area.

High university fees deter potential students from non-traditional backgrounds. Fees are already steep and there really is no justification for these to rise further when universities refuse to consider changing the number of hours they actually teach students. Universities established before 1992 offer only 21 per cent of lectures and seminars, as a proportion of time spent on study.

If existing measures fail to deliver change, the Government should consider financial penalties for higher education institutions that fail to meet widening participation targets.

Martin Doel

Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges,

London WC1

Richard Garner, once again and with good reason, draws attention to the agonisingly slow progress there has been in getting less privileged students into the best universities over the last decade. And yet, in those years universities have made great efforts through Outreach and their selection processes to increase accessibility. In the end, the fault lies not in the universities and the solution lies not with universities. These numbers will only change when the schools that get lots of students into the best universities, in particular independent schools and selective state schools, are themselves open to more bright pupils from less privileged backgrounds and when their expertise is more widely shared to raise the aspirations of all students.

John Claughton

Chief Master, King Edward’s School, Birmingham

The daughter of a friend of ours recently asked for advice about choosing a university. She is a personable girl and very able academically, but none of her family has any experience of higher education.

Neither the friend nor the daughter saw any distinction between English at Manchester and journalism at Derby. Derby was nearer home. Journalism sounds like training for something. A degree is a degree, isn’t it?

We should explain the difference between the tiers of universities. This is obviously more difficult for a school that doesn’t want to rubbish ex-polytechnics, or, in Derby’s case, an ex-college of higher education.

Pam Smith

Leicester

Homes must not come at expense of jobs

I’d welcome the Mayor of London getting stronger compulsory purchase powers to build more homes in London. But this Policy Exchange proposal risks solving the housing crisis by creating a jobs crisis. (“London Mayor urged to buy empty premises for housing”, 17 February.)

The authors recommend sweeping away more industrial land in London to build homes. But we are already losing industrial land to residential uses at twice the rate the Mayor planned, with half of the lost sites once occupied by flourishing businesses. I’ve talked to businesses that are being driven out of areas such as Charlton, Peckham, Fulham and Hackney Wick. Obviously residential developers make a lot of money from this, but residents can lose out.

London may not be the manufacturing heartland of a century ago, but the “made in London” brand is leading to a renaissance in many sectors. I myself live quite happily next to a light industrial site that offers benefits in cooperation of all kinds. We will always need our scaffold yards, car repair shops and recycling depots. We should value our brewers, welders and carpentry workshops, not sweep them away to create a place where people sleep, but can’t really live.

Jenny Jones AM

Green Party Group

London Assembly

Save MPs from the demon drink

Following the recent health warnings about the dangers of drinking any amount of alcohol, are we as taxpayers irresponsible in subsidising alcohol in the Houses of Parliament? Should we not stop this unhealthy practice?

Brian Toms

Chacewater, Cornwall