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I see Ann Widdecombe made a speech in the European parliament yesterday comparing Britons to slaves under their EU masters. She’s right, it’s exactly the same. As one of the slaves she speaks so eloquently about she clearly realises that being democratically elected to a parliament, and being paid nearly €9,000 (£8,100) to be there plus expenses is exactly the same as being taken 3000 miles across the Atlantic and forced to work in cotton fields in the American colonies.
And, although my historical knowledge might be imperfect, I wouldn’t doubt that the slaves were paid expenses to travel to Congress in Washington DC to complain to the government about their situation.
As Tom Peck pointed out, Brexit MPs don’t seem remotely embarrassed making such comparisons. Extraordinary.
Michael O’Hare
Northwood
I will not be the only descendant of British colonial African slaves cringing at Ann Widdecombe’s farcical comments comparing EU membership to slavery.
I wonder how many – like me – will have anticipated anger, expected the anger – and then watched the clip of a shrill old white woman gesticulating like a pantomime dame only to turn off the screen with a sense of revulsion tempered by extreme discomfort and embarrassment.
This is Britain on the international stage...
Amanda Baker
Edinburgh
While I am aware that some criticism of Ann Widdecombe misses the mark to the extent of being unjust, she is seriously wrong in her argument that the EU is oppressing the British people. We would be oppressed if we had no say in the enactment of EU laws, but her own presence in the EU parliament gives evidence that we have a share in the lawmaking process.
I would furthermore say to Ann that the biggest force of economic and political oppression in the UK has been the Conservative Party, which has always served the rich at the expense of the ordinary people, and this is the party which she served for most of her career.
Francis Beswick
Stretford, Greater Manchester
Turning things around will be hard
I note that, with his usual modesty, Boris Johnson claims to be the only person able to unite the country, which he will do with the magic wand of Brexit.
He should know better. In a short time, we have moved from grumpy tolerance to being a nation of sects and rotten trolls. It will take a long time, and the goodwill of millions, to retrace our steps. There is no easy fix.
Martin Smith
Headington, Oxford
Britain isn’t compassionate
“Mr Hunt said: ‘Britain is known throughout the world for its compassion and decency...’.”
Tell that to the thousands of victims of the Home Office’s callous hostile environment policy, individual examples of which are highlighted by The Independent on an almost daily basis.
D Maughan Brown
York
A new way to go
Burial occupies space that is rarely usable for other purposes in coming centuries. Cremation is very energy intensive. Burials at sea, if done in quantity, would risk reappearance in trawler’s nets. New approaches are needed and available but require public acceptance.
Reducing bodies to a sterile slurry that could be injected deep beneath fields and forests or distributed at sea would make sense. The former would give relatives some sense of place for their dead.
Steve Ford
Haydon Bridge
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