Letters: An immigration impasse leaves the Tories open to familiar charges
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SIR – It looks like immigration is the new Brexit.
We have a Government unable – or, more likely, unwilling – to do what the majority wants.
Time for an election, Mr Sunak.
Simon Warde
Bognor Regis, West Sussex
SIR – Adult asylum applicants, either genuine or bogus, who cross the Channel from France (a safe country) have taken deliberate decisions not to make or pursue applications there because they wish instead to enjoy the perceived benefits of Britain, and therefore pay traffickers handsomely for the opportunity.
Most Home Office ministers, past and present, and those who advise them, know this. They have striven to persuade other politicians that a common-sense interpretation of the relevant conventions and legislation suggests that such people remove themselves from the protection the legislation affords, and should therefore be considered, under the normal rules, as economic migrants.
Now that the courts disagree over whether present laws allow the required action, the law must change to serve the needs of Britain’s lawful residents, rather than line the pockets of foreign criminals and encourage people to put themselves, and those who come to their aid, at risk.
Parliament and others need to recognise that, with the appropriate laws in the statute book, it would take only a few enforced removals of illegal migrants to bring the traffic to a halt. No one will pay traffickers thousands of pounds to end up in central Africa. There will be fewer drownings in the Channel and there will be a far smaller recurring cost to the public.
William Fleming
Former HM inspector, UK Immigration Service
Frimley, Surrey
SIR – R G Drax MP is naive if he believes that replacing immigrant workers is possible by simply training “more of our own to do essential work” (Letters, December 6). It is not a lack of domestic skills that has caused a huge immigrant workforce; it is a lack of will on behalf of our population, driven by an overindulgent welfare state.
Stuart Harrington
Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset
SIR – The Government is targeting foreign spouses of British citizens to try to cut migration (report, December 6). I am an Englishman and can trace my English ancestry back hundreds of years, but I’m married to a Ugandan woman. We have to jump through hoops to get her visa. Yet, at the same time, I see myriad others coming here to do low-paid care work.
What right does the Government have to prevent married couples from living together when their marriage is genuine?
Tom Harrison
Winslow, Buckinghamshire
Covid blame
SIR – Britain has a dismal track record when it comes to the speed, cost and final value of its official inquiries. Watching Boris Johnson at the Covid Inquiry gives a clue as to why.
Overseen and conducted by senior members of the legal profession, it reflects the nature of our court system, with an adversarial tone and a focus on individuals and apportioning blame. This is inimical to discovering how a similar emergency might be handled in future. Moreover, it has the flavour of “a fool asking more questions than a wise man can answer”, in that it doles out blame with the wisdom of hindsight.
We would be better served by inquiries conducted by a panel of wise heads from outside the legal profession who could focus on practicalities.
Christopher Timbrell
Langley, Wiltshire
SIR – The Covid Inquiry is trying to blame people rather than look at the key question: was lockdown worth it?
The answer is clear: economically, it wasn’t. People may say that lives matter more than the money spent to save them, yet the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence makes decisions based on factors including value for money.
Otherwise we’d spend all tax raised on saving lives.
Alastair Muir
Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire
SIR – The Covid Inquiry risks missing the major cause of excess deaths. It should be looking at the NHS’s failure to provide for people with the early stages of other diseases, like cancer and heart failure, during the pandemic.
Non-Covid NHS hospital wards were often empty; the Nightingale hospitals largely went unused; and private hospitals saw a massive drop in non-Covid procedures, while barely treating Covid patients. This is what the inquiry should be investigating.
Jeremy Collis
London SW19
A right to die could put pressure on the elderly
SIR – Instead of the right to die (Letters, December 6), please also remember the right to live.
Yes, there are cases of long and undignified deaths, but the pressure on those who need long-term care to “end it all” will be increased greatly if assisted dying becomes legal.
None of us wants to become a burden to others, and that feeling may not always be caused by terminal illness but sometimes simply by old age.
What a terrible pressure to put on other human beings.
Anne F Bloor
Leicester
SIR – Dr Tim Howard’s letter (December 6) was spot on.
I have been through the trauma of witnessing a loved one die, so painfully and so traumatically, and that experience has affected my family life for more than 20 years.
I pleaded with the doctors present to put my late wife out of her pain and misery, but they weren’t allowed to do so. After two days of unnecessary suffering, she died. She suffered, we suffered, and it took an inordinate amount of the doctors’ time to oversee it.
I would sign a declaration today, demanding that I be “put to rest”, should I end up in a similar situation. We should have the right to die peacefully, not painfully.
Paul Caruana
Truro, Cornwall
Thames Water leaks
SIR– Your report, “Thames Water scraps key smart meter project” (Business, December 6), brought a wry smile to my face, as I am currently enjoying the benefits of a Thames smart meter, which, I was assured when it was fitted, would help to detect a leak in my property and save me from paying for leaked water.
In December my monthly charge went from £21 to more than £90, causing considerable alarm. Checking with Thames, I was advised that I had a leak in my property that I should rectify. It would appear that the leak has been active since 2019 – though the smart meter had not alerted me.
A leak-detecting company ascertained that the leak was in fact coming from Thames’s smart meter, so was not my responsibility. Many emails later, Thames still refers to “your leak”, despite having a detailed report clearly stating that its meter was the cause.
On a happy note, Thames is not charging me for the lost water, and is repaying more than £500. On a less happy note, Thames ignores my request to refund the more than £1,000 I paid to locate its leak.
Michael Edwards
Haslemere, Surrey
Education in Scotland
SIR – The decline of educational attainment in Scotland confirms the consequences of misallocating funds to support free university places (“Scotland’s pupils score record low results”, report, December 6).
In maintaining this flawed policy, the SNP has forced a transfer of resources from the less well off to the sons and daughters of wealthy Scots. Scotland’s economy and future prosperity have been badly damaged by this policy and the burden of additional taxes placed on Scottish workers.
I benefited from state education in Scotland when that was something to cherish. However, despite their significant student debt, I am grateful my children were educated south of the border.
Ian Mackenzie
Broughton, Lancashire
Send off footballers who hurl abuse at referees
SIR – How predictable that Erling Haaland, the foul-mouthed footballer screaming at a referee, should be able to walk away unpunished (Sport, December 5), while the referee stands firm – but no doubt covered in spittle.
What an example Mr Haaland gave to younger players. In rugby, such bad behaviour would usually result in the abusive player being sent off and banned for a number of games.
It’s time for referees to go on strike until proper sanctions are in place to protect them. Hit the revenue stream where it hurts until order and discipline are restored, and the disrespect of referees is met with a sending off.
Bill Todd
Whitton, Middlesex
SIR – Why do people in football think players can behave in such an appalling way and then describe it as “normal”, as Mr Haaland’s manager, Pep Guardiola, did?
To openly confront and swear at the referee, and then try to justify it, is unforgivable. Increasingly violent behaviour towards officials is now watched by millions. What do they think youngsters will learn from it?
Jeff Ford
Wheaton Aston, Staffordshire
NHS gender glitch
SIR – We are sorry that an error led to hospital discharge summary forms incorrectly displaying a baby’s sex as their “gender identity”. This is not, however, “a very convenient computer glitch”, as Celia Walden writes (Features, November 28): in fact, it is a completely unintentional one, which our teams are working hard to resolve as quickly as possible.
The public rightly wants the NHS to modernise, to innovate for patients, and to make the working lives of staff easier. We need to stress, therefore, that it is entirely for these reasons, rather than any attempt to “put labels on newborn babies”, that we have introduced Epic, our new electronic patient record, and we are confident it will deliver long-term benefits for patients, staff, and the communities we serve.
Avey Bhatia
Chief nurse, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Tracey Carter
Chief nurse, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Take it on the chin
SIR – In the 1970s I served for six years in the Army. Every soldier was issued with a respirator to combat a chemical attack by the then Soviet bloc. We were told a beard would render it ineffective as a seal could not be made with your face (“Army may cut 100-year-old ban on beards”, report, December 5).
The same goes in the fire service, where I worked for 25 years after leaving the Army, so I never did get to grow a beard.
John Fox
Hunstanton, Norfolk
Name dropping
SIR – My Jewish father-in-law was a band leader in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
It was suggested to him that, as his name was Gerry Fuhrer, it might be an idea to change it (Letters, December 5). He translated it.
Jeanne Leader
North Curry, Somerset
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