I agree with most of what has been said about this government’s Rwanda policy, but more often than not I find the language used far too emotive. Little mention is made of illegal economic migrants and the cost to our economy, which already lacks the infrastructure to help our own homeless, unemployed, or mentally ill.
Will all those bleeding hearts, who are so vociferous, agree to their taxes being increased yet again to fund these migrants?
It should also be remembered that we live in an island community and the amount of space per capita is diminishing. How long can we afford to take an extra 25,000 illegal immigrants per annum?
Piers Chalinor
London
Sunak must lead the way to a permanent ceasefire
The prime minister has given a lot of attention to the Israeli hostages currently being held by Hamas. But he has never mentioned the Palestinians abducted by the IDF – 100 doctors alone were detained after their hospitals were destroyed.
What Gaza needs is a permanent ceasefire now – only then will circumstances allow for all prisoners to be released. Unless Rishi Sunak leads the British government to support a permanent ceasefire, then he will be left on the wrong side of history.
Janet Salmon
Richmond
Digging ditches
Yet another Post Office executive cannot remember or has no recollection of documents, letters, emails, or conversations that took place under their watch. It’s endless, isn’t it?
Surely, if these people are so bereft of memory, of intelligence, so unable to know or understand what they are doing for any length of time, then they are showing themselves as unfit to run anything. Let alone the Post Office.
Surely companies cannot benefit from people who don’t remember, think about, or know what they are doing? Wouldn’t digging ditches be a more appropriate occupation for these people?
Maggie Owen
Hockwold
A horror movie ending
The prospect of Kate Forbes and her anti-gay equality views again standing for first minister is terrifying; it’s like the end of a horror movie when you wrongly think the danger has passed. Whatever your position on Scottish independence, the SNP has always appeared to be progressive.
Nobody should deny Forbes her private beliefs, but if in government, where might her Christian fundamentalism next be manifest?
Will we again be asked to shrug off her unrepentant homophobia because of its religious derivation?
Neil Barber
Edinburgh
We know what we need to do
When it comes to conservation, we are winning battles but losing the war. Global Forest Watch data from 2023 show that while deforestation fell in Brazil and Colombia, it climbed in Bolivia and Indonesia, and global tropical deforestation continued unabated.
Why? Maybe it is because we do not know how to halt the decline of nature. Or maybe it is because we are simply not doing enough to create the global impact we need.
A meta-analysis, or study of studies, released yesterday in Science addressed this question head-on. Do conservation interventions of all kinds, from creating and managing protected areas to fighting introduced species, work to halt or reverse biodiversity loss?
The answer is clear. In two-thirds of the cases where the impact of conservation interventions has been well studied, the interventions worked, either reversing or at least slowing the rate of biodiversity loss.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, finalised in 2022, saw the nations of the world agree to provide $200bn per year by 2030 to halt biodiversity loss, including transfers of $30bn per year from wealthy to poor countries. We are nowhere near there.
James C Deutsch
CEO of Rainforest Trust
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