What does democracy mean in terms of Brexit?

Send your letters in to letters@independent.co.uk

The Lords are just doing their jobs (PA)

Colin Bowers (Letters, 2 May) describes “democracy” as government by the people and accuses the House of Lords of not abiding by this tenet. I presume he is referring to the many times the House of Lords have defeated the government over Brexit legislation.

Could I remind him that the Brexit referendum was very close to 50/50, which means the Lords are sticking up for the 48 per cent who do not want to see this country leave the EU? Could I also remind him that at least 50 per cent of the current government is made up of ministers who voted and were canvassing for remaining in the EU, and therefore may be very grateful for the common sense way in which the Lords are asking the government to rethink its current strategy? At the moment it looks to me as if the Lords are the real representatives of the people.

Linda Johnson

East Riding of Yorkshire

Colin Bowers provides us with a definition of democracy. Perhaps he should have paged further through his dictionary to find a definition of the type of democracy we have in the UK: a parliamentary democracy.

My dictionary has this definition of “parliament”: “An assemblage of the nobility, clergy, and commons called together by the British sovereign as the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom.”

The Lords are simply doing their job.

Nick Haward

Address supplied

Theresa May has stated she wants to overturn the recent Lords amendment and prevent the Lords having “unprecedented powers” to direct her administration’s course.

This is no doubt what she really meant by “taking back control”.

Geoff Forward

Stirling

It’s a bit rich for Liam Fox to claim that yesterday’s majority in the House of Lords was an attempt to block the democratic will of the people (Parliament trying to gain power to delay exit from the EU indefinitely, 1 May). To recap, we had a knife-edge referendum in 2016 which is now turning out to have been possibly manipulated by illegally obtained data, and which involved the promotion of lies and the withholding of many vital issues.

Since then, not only has all this subsequently come to light, but the demography of the UK has changed and the slim majority that existed two years ago quite likely no longer does so. Surely, the will of the people should be tested again.

Patrick Cosgrove

Shropshire

We needn’t make our environment more hostile

Your recent story about a young woman at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre being physically restrained for transport even though her behaviour had done nothing to merit it is disturbing for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because like capital punishment, mistreatment and its aftereffects cannot be undone. Secondly, it’s the top of a “slippery slope”: it is a short distance from there to the government-approved mistreatment, under a “hostile environment” policy, of anyone merely suspected of being in this country illegally.

Given that some suspects may be identifiable by ethnicity, it’s not so far from that to the situation in Nazi Germany where the general population early discovered that it could publicly mistreat certain ethnic groups with impunity.

Peter Campion

Stockley, Wiltshire

Javid brings nothing new to the table

Leaving aside that ridiculous pose, anyone expecting Sajid Javid to be different to his predecessor is in for a surprise: he’s as Tory as the worst of them (IDS, McVey, Crabb and Rees-Mogg, to mention four awful examples). He voted against increasing welfare benefits, against an inquiry into the Iraq War, against the concept of climate change, against the promotion of equality. He voted for the badger cull, for surveillance of communication, for the bedroom tax and for stricter asylum laws.

He may try and play the “second generation child of immigrants” game but in fact he is a disgrace to that concept. He is as bigoted and lacking in empathy as the rest of them.

Terry Maunder

Leeds

Someone has to hold Trump to account

Michelle Wolf shocked the media with jokes about Trump’s press secretary and Kellyanne Conway at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Trump supporters are suddenly offended after they laughed when Trump mocked a disabled journalist, called Mexicans rapists, referred to Muslims as terror suspects and described Haiti, El Salvador, and parts of Africa as “s***hole countries”. And who can forget “grab women by the pussy” despicable remark? Now Trump’s fans are demanding an apology from comedian Michelle Wolf. Give me a freaking break!

Michelle Wolf only made fun of Sarah Sanders’ performance and not her looks. Trump and company should be the last people to ask for an apology.

American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp told CNN that the “mocking” prompted him and his wife to leave the ballroom of the Washington Hilton, where some 3,000 members of the media and lawmakers dined. He further stated: “Let the American people decide if they think someone’s lying. The journalists shouldn’t be the ones to say that the president or his spokesperson is lying.” Schlapp conveniently forgot to mention that his wife Mercedes Schlapp has been serving since September 2017 as the White House director of strategic communications.

Journalists are guardians of our democracy. They supply the citizens with information they must have to prevent the abuse of power and to warn citizens about those that are doing them harm. People like President Trump and Sarah Sanders are rightly being held accountable for what they say.

Mahmoud El-Yousseph

Westerville, Ohio

US

Let wild animals be wild animals

A lion is dead and a man is in hospital after an attack at the Marakele Predator Centre in South Africa.

Mike Hodge, the park’s owner, entered the enclosure, even though he was aware that the lions were nearby and unsettled. A lion easily caught him and dragged him into the bushes as witnesses screamed in shock and panic. The animal was later killed for doing nothing more than acting like a lion.

Yet again, captivity has led to suffering and death for a magnificent animal. Even under the “best” circumstances, captivity is never acceptable for big cats, and as cases such as this one prove, it’s often deadly. This tragedy is exactly why PETA urges families to stay away from facilities that display animals as living exhibits for humans to gawk at.

Jennifer White

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

London N1

Cultural appropriation or appreciation?

I was interested to read the piece about a US high school teen being criticised online for wearing a Chinese-inspired prom dress.

I am surprised that there hasn’t been an uprising in Scotland over the number of people who wear tartan clothing, in that case. Plaids that belong to individual clans with which they have no connection whatsoever, for instance.

When my daughter attends her Sikh in-laws’ family events she often dresses as they do. They take it as a compliment to them and to their culture.

Gillian Cook

Market Harborough

Some final thoughts on travel

Simon Calder often says “use a good travel agent”. Very well, but how do you know whether a travel agent is good before it is too late? Go on, give us a clue.

Dr Paul Sheldon

Address supplied

Can I suggest a compromise for British passports post-Brexit? Let people either have one with a dark blue cover or keep the current burgundy colour.

At European airports, put travellers holding these into separate queues and see which line moves fastest.

Phil Mason

Northallerton