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Your support makes all the difference.The UK is to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of VE Day with concerts, street parties and parades on 8 May, 2020.
Is it too much to hope that these celebrations won’t provide platforms for the worst sort of flag-waving, jingoistic form of nationalism? Or that we remember we didn’t win the war single-handedly, despite what 1950s and 60s films would have us believe? That we remember the help and bravery of the Polish and Czech pilots and the many European Resistance groups?
Let’s hope, too, that Boris Johnson maintains the mercifully low profile he seems to have adopted and reflects on the postwar vision of his hero, Churchill, for a united and interconnected Europe, on which this misguided country has now turned its back.
Sue Breadner
Isle of Man
Priti Patel and MI5
If, as we are told, the security services do indeed trust Priti Patel, I believe they must be among few people who do.
She had unauthorised discussions with Israeli officials in 2017, for which she issued a statement which she later had to “clarify” after the Guardian printed a quote which implied that she “had informed the foreign secretary about the visit in advance”, when she hadn’t. Not to mention her “resignation” from Theresa May’s government after she was twice summoned to No 10 and “reminded of her responsibilities”. Given all that information, I wouldn’t even buy a second-hand car from her.
Michael Clarke
Portishead
Labour’s survival
The election of a new Labour leader is an excellent opportunity to dispose of the ineffective policies of the present leader and his supporters as documented in the Labour 2019 Manifesto which led to the disastrous results for the party in the last election.
It is surely evident that a leader who will promote fresh policies which are in tune with the needs of the electorate is desperately needed to enable Labour to continue as a viable party in British politics.
Russell van As
Chippenham
Labour: Red or dead?
For now, I think it’s dead – thanks to the awful leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. The sooner he steps down, the sooner Labour will make progress and move forward following the devastating election result.
Britain needs a credible opposition party and it needs it now… we can’t have that under a guy who has lost the mandate to lead.
Rowan Lynes
Newtown
WikiLeaks and the Pentagon Papers
Good article by Patrick Cockburn (With WikiLeaks, Julian Assange did what all journalists should aspire to do). However, there is an important difference between Assange and Daniel Ellsberg.
Ellsberg was part of the US security apparatus and tried through proper channels to make known what was really going on in Vietnam. It was only when this failed, that he decided to leak the information to the Washington Post. Information that he was qualified to have and handle.
Assange, on the other hand, made no attempt to speak with US intelligence to get answers to his questions or concerns. Rather, he obtained information using illegal means and then dumped it indiscriminately into the wild without any attempt to provide context to the information or concern about possible fallout.
Tony Nicholson
East Yorkshire
A slimmed-down monarchy?
In the wake of the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle affair, serious questions about the future of the British Monarchy have arisen. Should it go on as normal? Or, (as Prince Charles seems to wish) should it be “slimmed down”?
For a number of reasons, quite a few of us are in favour of the second option.
In the current meritocratic culture of modern Britain, it isn’t defensible for junior Royals to live subsidised lifestyles. Only the Queen and her immediate heirs, surely, should receive taxpayers’ money.
Reforming the monarchy will not be easy. However, the lower profile Scandinavian model is an example that surely could be followed.
Andrew McLuskey
Address supplied
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