Boris Johnson’s Saudi visit reveals his lack of principles – yet again

And there we have it. At the same time as three eastern European prime ministers make the dangerous rail trip to meet the Ukrainian president to show their support, where is Boris Johnson?

He is off to Saudi Arabia to beg the rulers of a country steeped in human rights abuses. They executed 81 people in one day last week. Why is he there? To beg for oil for the rest of the world, apparently. The oil that no one will be wanting in the next 30 years or so – or will they?

It just takes three weeks of an illegal war started by a power-mad dictator to show that we are light years away from the greener society that we crave.

However, I could not let my comments pass without making reference to words allegedly spoken by the prime minister in which he states that the £1bn Saudi investment in greener aviation fuel is something “we want to encourage” and goes on to say that “it does not mean we can’t stick to our principles and raise those issues that we all care about”.

Principles and Boris Johnson are not words that sit easily together. I give you the Brexit lies, the cash for honours, Partygate etc. Our current prime minister always reminds me of the late great Groucho Marx, not just because you can’t take him seriously, but he certainly has taken his well-known catchphrases to heart and, in that respect, I quote: “Those are my principles, if you don’t like them, I have others.” So very true.

Scott Cassie

Aberdeen

The news coming out of Ukraine is heart-wrenching, and it has been gratifying to see just how many people in the UK and around the world have donated, both financially and with supplies.

Millions in financial aid have been collected but how is that money being spent? Is that money actually reaching the Ukrainian people? Are the supplies reaching the Ukrainian people?

More than 100,000 people in the UK have offered a place to stay for the Ukrainian refugees, but they have to know the names of the people that they have to sponsor to come and stay. How can they access this list of names?

The government expects the Ukrainian people to go online to apply to come to the UK. What if the Ukrainian people don’t have internet access?

J Hyatt

Address supplied

The death of Shallwehaveonemore in the opening race at Cheltenham is not only tragic but also tragically predictable.

Deaths at Cheltenham are practically par for the course, so much so that watching the races is like having a front-row seat at a bullfight. Horses are pushed to – and often past – breaking point in this greedy and ghastly spectacle, which is a stain on the British reputation as an animal-loving nation.

The Cheltenham Festival should be cancelled, and this death must serve as a heartbreaking reminder that there is no such thing as a harmless flutter. Betting supports an industry which kills.

Jennifer White

Media and communications, Peta UK

Our government has sought to exclude refugees from Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan and lord knows how many other war-torn nations on the belief that accepting them would be against the national will (ie bad for votes).

Now that we have a war-torn, democratic nation on our doorstep, the government, in response to rising public anger, has sub-contracted its humanitarian responsibilities by inviting families to open the door themselves by inviting Ukrainian refugees into their own homes... with overwhelming public support.

However, public generosity has been met with the Home Office’s usual incompetence, bordering on prejudice, and a complete lack of planning by the government despite largely foreseeable events.

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May those many, many households who have offered their homes and hearts to Ukrainians seeking refuge and safety be blessed by having their kindness acknowledged by the relaxation of visa restrictions and the speedy relief of these desperate displaced families.

If the government is too timid to face up to its humanitarian responsibilities, let’s at least hope that they allow the British public to step up in their place and show the basic humanity that most of our citizens share.

John Driver

Herefordshire

After six years in prison and/or under house arrest, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe will leave Iran today.

This will, of course, have nothing to do with coughing up the £400m for tanks that we never delivered after the fall of the Shah. Nor, of course, with the government’s attempt to garner an alternative supply of that black, sticky stuff with which Iran is still well-endowed.

Realpolitik – don’t you just love it?

Jeremy Redman

London