IoS letters, emails & online postings (16 November 2014)

It was revealed in your newspaper (9 November) that some Jewish supporters were refusing to donate to party funds because of the party's Israel-Palestine policy. As I understand it Labour's policy is to support the continued existence of Israel and its right to defend itself, but to oppose the continued persecution of Palestinians in their own land, such as roads on which they are not allowed to travel, theft of their land and homes, and harassment by illegal settlers. If I understand that rightly, then I am more encouraged to vote Labour, even though we will have to struggle along without Maureen Lipman.

Peter Metcalfe

Stevenage, Hertfordshire

The religious financial donor who declares he does not want to "see Mr Miliband in Downing Street" illustrates the reason for supporting Miliband all the way. Miliband is a democrat, above price, and who should be sent to Downing Street by democrats and not donors. The religious donor who cannot accept the authority of a democratic party must consider joining the political party where power and authority, responsibility and justice, are bought and sold.

Miles Secker

Heckington, Lincolnshire

The story claiming that "Jewish donors and supporters" are "deserting" the Labour Party invokes a largely mythical British "Jewish community" supposedly united in lockstep support of any policy undertaken by the Israeli state. As a British Jew myself, I can assure you that – thankfully – no such uncritical endorsement exists of Israel's illegal aggression in Palestine or its institutionalised racism to Arab-Israeli citizens. British Jewry is a diverse constituency ranging from ultra-Orthodox communities to secular leftists like myself, with a large middle ground whose interest in Israel is inevitably intense but whose attitudes predictably diverge widely.

Barry Langford

via email

Ellen E Jones should stop feeling guilty for being grammar-school educated (9 November): it was her parents' decision and it is perfectly honourable to use educational advantage to better oneself. The important thing is how we use our advantage. Do we just perpetuate a system that benefits the few, or do we use our influence to improve the lot of the many?

Stan Labovitch

Windsor, Berkshire

It is a pity that DJ Taylor chose to take a cheap swipe at those who wish to remove religion from Remembrance Day, especially as he begins his piece describing a good and godless example of such an event (9 November).

The Service of Remembrance is an act of worship in the Christian tradition, little understood by, and alien to, most of the people who join together on a Sunday in November to remember friends, family and fallen comrades, and to give communal thanks for their sacrifice. The most meaningful and moving parts of the ceremony, the laying of the wreaths, the Last Post and the reading from Binyon's "The Fallen", are not religious at all. The "service" element of the occasion, I believe, does not serve the purpose of the day, but rather hinders it.

Roger Moorhouse

Todmorden, West Yorkshire

Rodric Braithwaite mentions "Margaret Thatcher and the Americans" encouraging Solidarity, but how could he possibly not mention the overt encouragement given by John-Paul II to Lech Walesa? ("The wall fell because of Gorbachev", 9 November.) Without the influence exerted by John-Paul, Communism in Poland would not have fallen when it did and the Berlin Wall would have stood for a little longer.

Rev David Clemens

Saffron Walden, Essex

Matthew Engel's Round England Quiz (9 November) held Shropshire the only county without a direct train service to London... news to Isle of Wight travellers I'm sure!

M L Hunter

Pewsey, Wiltshire