I’m mortified to learn that the UK has become such an unwelcoming home for its non-British citizens

While I have never believed much in patriotism (“the last refuge” and all that...) I have always felt there was something basically decent about our country and that we were among the fortunate few to be born and live there.

But my heart sinks as I read articles like that of Sonia Delesalle-Stolper (Before Brexit I felt part of this country – after casting my final vote in local elections, it feels even less like home).

What dark feelings have been unleashed by Brexit and the likes of Nigel Farage when children are subjected to the anti-foreigner bile she describes? “Go home, Froggy”? “Apologise for the war”?

I am told that all German schoolchildren must visit one former concentration camp as part of their understanding of their country’s past dark history. When are British schoolchildren even made aware of some of the less-than-kind things done by the British in the name of “empire”, and not just in the dim and distant past?

I would like to apologise to Ms Delesalle-Stolper on behalf of those of us who do not share the feelings she is encountering and hope she can find forgiveness.

Patrick Moore
Oxfordshire

I returned to the UK last September after living in the United States for 32 years.

I often get asked about the differences between the two countries. I find it a very hard question to answer without being utterly glib or starting a hours-long discussion.

But there is one thing I thought before I left the UK and still think now having returned: there is something about the US that encourages new ideas, new ways of thinking and an ease of dispensing with things that no longer seem to have any relevance. In contrast, I find the UK still clings to its (albeit glorious) history, and supports the status quo rather than risk the unknown in the future.

This is not to say that there aren’t lots of people in the UK trying new things. There are. It’s just that the US seems to want to encourage these people whereas the UK regards them as oddities.

They aren’t, and I wish this nation would realise this, not to make this country more like the US but to help take it to its deserved place in the future. We don’t need to reaffirm our place in the world’s history – no one could question that. But I think we could be so much more as a nation if we put the same energy and attitude into welcoming the future – even with all its unknowns.

Steve Mumby
Bournemouth

It is true that the ugly scourge of antisemitic tropes is both repugnant and unacceptable. As a Muslim, I fervently believe that the memory of those who fell prey to extermination camps, gas chambers, death, collective punishment, torment, religious persecution, social ostracism, dehumanisation, demonisation, deprivation and disenfranchisement, where communities ceased to exist and were transformed into ashes, should be cherished and carved in human consciousness.

It is also important to remember that such mass atrocities occurred in a democracy suffused with technical rationality and social normalcy that legitimised and justified them. Equally repugnant is Israel’s immoral, unjust and illegal occupation of Arab, Palestinian and Muslim lands, and the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. They are bound to ignite further religious animosities and derail any future peace endeavours.

Dr Munjed Farid al Qutob
London NW2

The 2,500 peasants invited to Harry and Meghan’s wedding bash have been advised by lord lieutenants “to bring a picnic lunch as it will not be possible to buy food and drink on site”. This takes the legendary Windsor parsimony to a whole new level.

In fact the 600 actual guests will get the works, but the rest will be left milling about for hours with supermarket bags of sarnies and cans of lager.

As Harry is worth £40m, Meghan £5m and the royals as a whole are worth billions, this is all rather demeaning.

Rev Dr John Cameron
St Andrews

So Meghan, we are told, is going to wear a hand sewn, beaded wedding dress costing £100,000, paid for by Harry’s family, aka the British taxpayer.

At a time when more children are living below the poverty line, the NHS is in dire straits, austerity is still the norm for most of us and so on.

The lunatics really have taken over the asylum and the rest of us sit and fiddle.

Patrick Moore
Bloxham