Boris Johnson, have you no sense of decency?

Listening to the exchanges in the House of Commons between Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson concerning the events at 10 Downing Street on 30 May last year, I recalled the words of the distinguished American lawyer Joseph N Welch to Senator Joseph R McCarthy after McCarthy and his tactics had been exposed during the televised Army/McCarthy Senate hearings of 1954. On live television, Mr Welch said to Senator McCarthy: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”

Mr Johnson should demonstrate some sense of decency, at long last, and resign a post for which he is, in my view at least, woefully unsuited.

John Lewis

Address supplied

Not good enough and nowhere near. Boris Johnson can deliver a fake “apology”, and claim he thought it was a “work event”, even though it was touted by email as “socially distanced drinks”, now that he’s sorry for being caught, but only a fool would believe he’s sorry for attending the party, while thousands had to watch loved ones’ funerals on Zoom.

I do not believe his apology. I do not believe he thought it was a work event or anything other than a party. Indeed, only a fool would believe anything Johnson says, or that anything he does has good intentions. The prime minister attended an illegal party in breach of his own rules while the rest of us did the right thing. He then lied to us and to our parliament about it. He must now resign and if he doesn’t, he needs to be sacked. Anything less diminishes the office and diminishes us all.

Ian Henderson

Norwich

Well, we the peasants conformed to all the rules at huge distress to many families. Those that think power and money excludes them from the annoyance of obeying the rules have shown their true colours. The arrogance and contempt shown is unforgivable with so many lives lost.

Helen Rowland

Harwich

In case your readers were confused by Boris Johnson’s “apology” in the House of Commons today, let me paraphrase more succinctly.

The party in the first part shall be known as the party that did not attend the party. The party in the second part shall be known as the leader of the party. Let it be known that the party of the first part and the party of the second part, being one and the same party, did not attend the party and did not know that the party that the party did attend was a party.

With apologies to the Marx brothers.

Nick Donnelly

Dorset

How ironic that a former member of the Bullingdon Club should be brought low attending a party. The seeds of self-destruction are so often sown in one’s youth.

David Smith

Taunton

If a leader needs 25 minutes to figure out what kind of social event they are attending, does this mean that questions should be asked about their competence?

Phillip Zanella

Leamington Spa

If the prime minister resigns are we allowed to have a party?

Simon Watson

Worcester

We, the undersigned, have all been stripped of our British citizenship and exiled by different home secretaries over the past decade. While we are now stranded in countries across South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, we all were born as British citizens and raised in the UK.

The government has deprived every one of us of our citizenship on the basis that we are technically dual nationals on account of our parental heritage, cementing a two-tier citizenship for people like us. We have no identity or travel documents, no consular assistance and do not enjoy the support or protection of any country in the world. We are essentially stateless.

In practice, this means that some of us have suffered detention, imprisonment, and torture with complete impunity. Shockingly, some who have been deprived have been summarily executed without any accountability. Our children are also denied citizenship and passports and are collectively punished alongside us. We live a shadow existence.

The most difficult part of this process is not knowing what we are accused of or being shown the evidence against us. If we, or anyone else for that matter, have committed a crime, we simply ask for our day in court where we are given the opportunity to challenge the evidence against us. The current policy of using “secret evidence” and “secret courts” equips the government and the security services to operate as judge, jury and, in some cases, executioner against us.

We are overwhelmed by the growing numbers of the British public campaigning against the Nationality and Borders Bill (NABB). Clause 9 of the bill will allow the home secretary to deprive someone of their citizenship without notification. As targets of these powers, everyone must understand that the struggle against citizenship deprivation is far greater than just this clause. It is imperative to continue to push for a full roll-back of the racist and wholly unaccountable deprivation regime under which hundreds of British citizens have already lost their citizenship.

Power must always be under the law, not above it.

Deniz Solak

Tauqir ‘Tox’ Sharif

Sally Lane (mother of Jack Letts, otherwise known as Jihadi Jack)

Nabeel Sheikh

Safian Khan

E3

K3

N3

R3

Y1

I was both deeply moved and thoroughly ashamed by Tamana Safi’s piece (I’m an Afghan refugee studying in the UK – here are the challenges I face, 2 January). Moved by her quiet fortitude and graciousness and ashamed (once again) by our nation’s callous and unfeeling attitude towards her, her family, and the many thousands like her. What have we become?

Arden Tomison

Bristol

Vince Cable (There is a problem with ‘levelling up’ – the government has run out of money’, 11 January) suggests that there is no money for “levelling up” and that the focus should be northern cities, not towns. He cites the funding of buses and metros as good examples of successful investment.

He is totally missing the point. Levelling up is not about such fripperies. What those communities have lost – and they include cities as well as towns, and small ones at that – is productivity. In order to justify investment of any sort you have to have the hope, if not confidence, that investment will reap rewards.

Resilience is part of sustainable communities and whether due to new technology or the death of old ones, there must be resilience to the ups and downs of commerce, ability to absorb higher costs for commodities, and the ability to stay ahead of the game. There are few places in the UK to look for good examples and he only gives examples of failures in overseas markets such as East Germany to make his point. The UK should be looking to where success lies, and how/if that can be adapted to our society and aims. China is the greatest success story of the last 20 years, Singapore is another, and West Germany is perhaps our best template to adapt.

The changes that will bring us success will also take a long time – way beyond a single parliament. Investment for prosperity in education, infrastructure, and new industries in those areas is not burdening us with unjustifiable debt – it is investment in productivity.

I do not decry buses or metros, but it is missing the point of levelling up. We need an industrial strategy, creation of jobs and wealth, and a circular sustainable economy for a forward-looking country.

Michael Mann

Shrewsbury