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The heinous attacks that targeted Christian worshippers in Sri Lanka are attacks on all of us. Easter should be a time for renewal, rebirth and redemption; a time for compassion, belonging and citizenship; a time to reflect on the lives of the wretched, the bereaved and the sick and on the selfless sacrifices of others who continue to offer a refuge for those taking treacherous journeys to flee persecution and hardships whether Muslims, Christians or others.
The scenes of solidarity and unity and people of diverse faiths donating blood to the victims are reminiscent of the scenes in the wake of the attacks on Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. They conjure up the fact that we are all humans.
Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London NW2
Sri Lanka, the nation of serendipity endowed with hypnotic natural beauty and equally beautiful people at its best, after leaving behind a brutal separatist war of 26 years that killed and displaced thousands, was finally having its long awaited tryst with peace since 2009. The decade of tranquility and peace was brutally destroyed on Easter Sunday by the enemies and murderers of humanity insidiously. The heinous and coordinated bombing attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka that has killed over 200 people and injured many more once again prove that the cult of inhumanity is seamless and only follows the despicable religion of hatred and bloodshed.
When the world is just reeling from last month’s New Zealand mosque attack, these synchronized and planned multi-pronged bomb attacks, targeting churches and hotels where congregants were peacefully praying and celebrating Easter Sunday or just minding their own holiday business, once again shows the devastating magnitude of the seamless global scourge of terrorism propelled by the enemies of humanity.
While the world joins in its heartfelt prayers to the victims and conveys its condolences to their grieving families, the big question still looms largely, how does the peace-loving global community in an absolute majority come together to thwart and annihilate the interconnected forces of global and domestic terrorism?
Unless the international community urgently mulls on annihilating the nucleus of terrorist organisations that penetrate deeply across the globe, I’m afraid the emboldened haters of humanity will continue their mass murderous sprees across the world.
Atul M Karnik
New York, USA
The slippery slope of home schooling
I was not at all surprised reading the fine article about aggressive parents demanding teachers email and message them 24/7. we are most certainly aware of various degrees of this behaviour, with the worst ones truly believing that teachers are at their beck and call at all times.
The next step in this ill-advised process is when parents do not get what they want, they then turn to home education. We had plenty of comment on this the other week. Of course, it is only in the domain of the ones that can afford it, but in my experience they are the ones who are most demanding anyway.
Even more troubling, in my opinion, is some of the above are advocating tax reductions for the parents of children homeschooled, and of course this is then echoed by some people without children. A prime example of selfishness being confused with choice.
Unless our politicians look seriously at education – increase funding, support teachers, stop talking about grammar schools and overhaul league tables and tests – we could end up with the poor attending school and the rich enjoying private tuition.
It does not need me to state that this would be a disaster.
Robert Boston
Kent
Good riddance to the Tory party
Quick response to John Rentoul's assertion that Theresa May has “destroyed the Conservative Party and made them unelectable”: Good!
Not strictly true though: the backstabbing, infighting, self-serving, bigoted elements of the party have brought it on themselves. None of the current contenders for leadership are fit to run a tea party let alone a country – especially when in thrall to the even more archaic and bigoted DUP.
We need a referendum on what little they have achieved on Brexit followed by – or maybe combined with – a general election as soon as possible.
Mike Margetts
Kilsby
Note the similarities between British and Ukrainian politics
In Ukraine it seems the favourite to become the country’s leader is a comedian. According to my dictionary, a comedian is defined as “one whose act is designed to make an audience laugh”. A further definition is someone who is “a fool, buffoon or clown”.
I will leave it to the reader to decide which is applicable to the current favourite to lead the Tory party.
G Forward
Stirling
How much must we sacrifice to save the planet?
The questions posed by the Extinction Rebellion protest will not be answered by Emma Thompson telling the crowd that it was OK for her to be a frequent flyer because for years she had been calling for cleaner ways to fly and for action on climate change.
Did it not occur to her just to stop flying and immediately reduce her own carbon contribution?
I don’t mean to single Thompson out, but use her to demonstrate the dilemma we all face. My children and grandchildren live 750 miles and 10,000 miles from me, and if I am to see them then it is at a cost to the planet and to their futures. Is this fair to them?
We could all simply use less energy, but at some personal cost – not just financial but reduced experience and personal pleasures. Are we each willing to do this?
John Simpson
Herefordshire
The problem with better passwords
Regarding the issue of password security, it is certainly good advice to have different hard to crack passwords for each site. The crucial piece of advice missing from the article is how to remember them.
Alan Pack
Kent
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