Is the Syrian rebel leader someone Britain should be doing business with?

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

The new regime in Syria is led by Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the head of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a terrorist organisation.

Not so long ago, Al-Julani was listed as a “specially designated global terrorist” by the US State Department and had a bounty of $10m on his head.

So I am baffled by the foreign secretary David Lammy stating in the House of Commons that the UK should be merely “cautious” about the new Syrian regime (“UK has opened diplomatic contact with Syrian rebels who toppled Assad, says Lammy”, Sunday 15 December).

The government’s rhetoric implies a passive stance, despite billions of dollars having been spent on counter-terrorism measures in fighting exactly these types of groups.

How are we to reconcile this new “cautious” approach when the same individuals now described as “rebels” once posed a direct threat to British soldiers? Given their brutal legacy, the hypocrisy is stunning.

It seems that the so-called “war on terror” has been turned on its head. This is no longer a question of diplomacy, but of complicity with groups whose actions speak louder than any words of political negotiation.

Louis Shawcross

Royal Hillsborough, County Down

We don’t need no home education

The debate about a register for all home-schooled children does not go anywhere near far enough (“Calls for home-schooled children to be registered after Sara Sharif murder”, Thursday 12 December).

Currently, there are no checks on home-schooled children. We have no evidence that home-schooling works, as evidence is not sought, but I’m not convinced that unqualified parents make good and conscientious teachers.

When taken privately, the cost of taking GCSEs is high: a minimum of £200 per subject.

All children deserve a good education. Why should parents from the home-schooling “community” be allowed to make decisions which are not in their child’s best interests?

Marguerite Rossini

Harwich, Essex

Labour’s China crisis

Following reports of Prince Andrew’s friendship with an alleged Chinese spy, home secretary Yvette Cooper appears more concerned about our trading relationship with China than national security (“UK-China relationship is ‘complex’, Cooper says amid concerns over alleged spy”, Sunday 15 December).

I sympathise with her dilemma – for where else can we trade? The Tories trashed our relationship with the European Union in the hope of a free trade agreement with an increasingly unstable America. The only other major global trading bloc with prospects is China.

Britain needs reliable partners that won’t set out to grossly exploit our modest place in the world. This means closer relations with Europe in spite of previous rudeness. They want closer ties as much as we obviously need it. Get to it now!

David Smith

Taunton, Somerset

With friends like him…

Given that Vladimir Lenin observed: “Show me who your friends are, and I will tell you what you are”, I would have thought the Chinese Communist Party would have been more circumspect before associating with disgraced Andrew Windsor (“Prince Andrew ‘invited alleged Chinese spy to Buckingham Palace’”, Saturday 14 December).

Bill Bradbury

Bolton

Reasons to be cheerful

As another year stumbles to a close, it has been one dominated by what appears to be relentless bleakness on a global stage – what with conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as a continuing cost of living crisis on our own shores (“The silent war going on inside a city at Nato’s eastern border – which could be Putin’s next target”, Monday 16 December).

However, there have been many positives to come out of 2024. In what may appear to be a doom-laden year, let us spare a few moments to reflect on the many positives.

In the UK, renewable power overtook fossil fuel generation for the first time. Norway became the first country in the world where electric cars outnumbered petrol cars.

Greece legalised same-sex marriage and adoption, becoming the first Orthodox Christian country to do so. Some 642 million people voted in India’s general election, setting the record for the world’s largest election.

Meanwhile, the Paris Olympics dazzled the world with extraordinary athletic performances, and the San Marino football team, who had previously never won a competitive match, won not one, but two.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh