Priti Patel's crocodile tears for Windrush victim Paulette Wilson should fool no one

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Paulette Wilson came to the UK legally in 1968 aged 10 and built her life here. In 2016 Wilson, then a mother and grandmother, was told by the Home Office that she was an “immigration offender”. She was twice arrested and detained in the notorious Yarl’s Wood immigration centre and in 2017 only a last minute intervention by her MP stopped her being forcibly deported to Kingston, Jamaica. Wilson has spent the following years since campaigning for justice for the victims of the Windrush scandal.

Paulette Wilson, mother and grandmother, has just died at the age of 64 and home secretary Priti Patel had the bare-faced cheek to tweet she was “deeply saddened by the passing of Paulette Wilson who dedicated her last years to highlight the injustices faced by the Windrush generation”.

Patel acts as if the injustices endured by Paulette Wilson and the other victims of the Windrush scandal had nothing to do with the Tory government of which she is a part.

Patel writes as if the Windrush scandal wasn’t the direct responsibility of successive Tory home secretaries over the last ten years.

The Windrush scandal was the product of the Tory policy to consciously create a “hostile environment” which would make the lives of migrants in the UK as unendurable as possible. It was former home secretary Theresa May who legislated to allow the British state to “Deport first. Hear appeals after”.

The racism that produced the Windrush scandal which blighted the last years of Paulette Wilson’s life, remains at the heart of Tory politics.

Patel’s crocodile tears for Paulette Wilson should fool no one.

Sasha Simic
London

England wants us, deal with it

I take issue with the letter writer from Kings Lynn who stated, “they [Scotland] will take our money and leave”. We will take your money? I hadn’t realised the wealth of the UK is exclusively English. We appreciate every crumb from our master’s table. How will we ever manage without Westminster’s money! If we cost you money why did the UK media go to such lengths to influence the independence referendum vote? After all, the Tories are not known for their altruism. If we cost the English money we would have been ditched long ago.

Richard Smith
Dundee

Nostalgic for leadership on climate change

Sean O’Grady compares Johnson’s performance with those who came before him in his piece, “Where does Boris Johnson stand in the pantheon of premiers?” Perhaps it is true that the hapless Theresa May left office suffering from the lowest approval ratings since the fall of Thatcher but with none of her scale of achievement to show for it.

But we shouldn’t forget one of her last acts in office, before leaving No 10, which was to pass legislation committing the UK to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 through the Climate Change Act.

History will judge her performance on Brexit but she may, in time, be seen as a titan in the fight against global warming, pushing through pivotal legislation while others were naval gazing and dreaming of Britain’s colonial past.

And the last PM to deal with a pandemic was not Lloyd George, but Harold Macmillan in 1957. Apparently, he read about it in the newspaper before deciding to do not much about it.

Nigel Fox
Leamington Spa

Take mental health seriously

Lizzie Dearden wrote about judges being given more guidance on sentencing offenders with mental disorders, quoting a statistic of 23 per cent of people admitted to prison having reported prior contact with mental health services.

Firstly, isn’t committing a crime itself a sign of some mental disorder – even of a mild social dysfunction? And secondly, those people who committed crimes after showing signs of mental health problems surely needed better and more effective treatment for those problems – and maybe some underlying social problems such as poor education or poverty.

This is yet another example of not enough effort being put into prevention causing the expenditure of a lot more effort and problems later on. Seems to be a rule of modern government in this country.

Peter Cole
Alnwick

Johnson is not funny

I could not agree more with Jess Phillips about Boris Johnson and yes, his merry and vacuous quips leave me stone cold frozen as well.

Jess Phillips is correct too that the hubristic rhetoric about world-beating anything is completely unfounded and undeserved. There have been some good measures including the economic bailout but contrary to Johnson’s bright puce tinted glasses, Britain hasn’t had a good pandemic by any stretch and the death toll is horrendous. I agree with the lady in the nail shop that I too would give my right arm for seriousness and gravity in our men in the top jobs.

I feel Sir Keir Starmer fits this role very well and shows up Johnson’s linguistic pranks for what they are, mere distractions so his loyal acolytes can bray in unison behind him, you just couldn’t make it up or perhaps you can if you fit the bill of a populist prime minister.

Judith A Daniels
Norfolk

Make masks inclusive

If you looked at me, you might not notice my disability – a lot of people don’t. But I have autism, and because I am classed as disabled and therefore find it difficult to wear a face mask, I am exempt from being required to wear one, in line with official government guidance.

But I have suffered discrimination, verbal abuse and humiliation for not wearing a face mask on public transport.

A lack of understanding of hidden disabilities and the exemption rules means thousands of people like me, many who are more vulnerable, are unfairly threatened and feel unwelcome and unsafe in society.

Masks are now required in shops and supermarkets too, so unless something changes there will be more instances like what I experienced, and in more settings. I want to make sure no one else like me is made to feel that their disability isn’t valid, or isn’t believed.

We are sending letters to ministers asking them to emphasise the exemption rules and encourage staff and the public to think twice before you challenge someone.

We all want society to be as safe as possible. But we also need to protect the people that can’t wear a face mask, through no fault of their own.

Corey Wood, business development assistant, Dimensions, a not-for-profit support provider for people with learning disabilities and autism
Wolverhampton