Letters: Cohesive society, or just the Nasty Party?

Apparently Theresa May thinks immigration makes it difficult to create a cohesive society. Funny, I thought it was elitism and massive wealth disparity.

Amanda Baker

Edinburgh

Aren’t we all immigrants? From the Angles and Saxons through to the waves of migration over the last century, don’t we all constitute the cohesive society that Theresa May doesn’t want to upset?

The Rev Richard James

Harrogate

When in 1968 Enoch Powell made his notorious “rivers of blood” speech, the Tory leader, Edward Heath, immediately axed him from the Shadow Cabinet. In her conference speech Theresa May did not quite plummet to the depths reached by Enoch. Nonetheless, her comments were extremely nasty and harmful, coming as they did from someone who has been Home Secretary for more than five years. Time to wield the axe, Mr Cameron?

David Harris

London NW11

I am shocked that Theresa May is promising a crackdown on asylum cheats now, as if she had been appointed Home Secretary yesterday. She has been the Home Secretary since 2010, and yet nothing changed. She has failed dismally to reduce immigration and kick out failed asylum-seekers.

Theresa May should not promise a crackdown on asylum cheats now; she should concentrate on actually sorting out the immigration chaos that she has failed to sort out for the past five years.

Handsen Chikowore

London SW16

We have witnessed the Conservative pledge to limit immigration to 100,000 per year completely broken by the latest count of 330,000.

Surely it is a welcome statement Theresa May put forward that at last she would do her best to carry out the job she is paid by us to do.

Mike Park

London SE9

Why did you not put James Moore’s report today (7 October) where it belonged, on the front page, instead of your “take” on the Home Secretary’s speech. Since when did The Independent put “campaigning” ahead of hard news?

David Stewart

London NW8

If the Tories really believe in market forces, should they not welcome the free movement of people, not only within Europe, but worldwide?

Venetia Caine

Glastonbury, Somerset

How long ago was it that Theresa May referred to the Tory Party as the Nasty Party? I guess if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

Paul Rochman

Fetcham, Surrey

OK, it was a horrible defeat. I feel for the whole England team. Who would have wanted to wake up being one of them last Sunday? But, far from the Rugby World Cup being “over”, many of us have been inspired by the unexpected and the brave, even in defeat. The enjoyment of the game goes on regardless.

I was privileged to be part of the choir singing the national anthems on the pitch in Brighton for Japan v South Africa, and then Samoa v USA. Both matches were electric. The best team on the day won, it didn’t matter which one. We also watched Fiji v Uruguay, and what a fantastic match it was.

I would say to the England team to come out fighting in their last match of the tournament against Uruguay, not for the sponsors, not for the cup, but just for the sheer joy of a fine game well played. All the best; we’ll still be cheering.

Gail Taylor

Brighton

Stuart Russell (letter, 6 October) asks if anyone can tell him of a game that has a more illogical way of scoring than rugby. He says he would be amazed.

Be amazed, Stuart. Cricket and the Duckworth-Lewis scoring method can only be logical and understood if you have a doctorate in advanced mathematics.

Linda Theaker

London SE27

Following a recent holiday on the island of Kos, I would like to expand upon Alan Mitchams’s letter (22 September).

Our hotel was staffed by Albanians, Romanians, Bulgarians and Hungarians with a few Greeks manning the front desk and in senior management. Given that the unemployment rate for Greeks aged under 25 is around 50 per cent it was clear that the use of foreign workers could be nothing but some form of employment tax dodge. My wife is Albanian and the conversations we had with staff were illuminating. A Greek barman commented that a Greek would not lower him/herself to do such menial work as a waiter or cleaner.

A range of fake goods was sold openly in all shops; the quantities were staggering and no attempt was made to conceal their provenance; I suspect they are smuggled in from Turkey just across the water and the police and customs are paid to turn a blind eye. Kos itself has the look of a third-world African republic. The airport is beyond belief, roads are not maintained, archaeological sites are in the main closed, despite the vast sums of EU money poured into them, and the general fabric of the towns and villages is an utter disgrace. The hotel and its beach were, however, without critisism.

Nigel D Moore

Devauden, Monmouthshire

I have been troubled to hear numerous cases early this week, from colleagues across the country, of patients with serious illness who have delayed going to hospital because they are under the impression that they would stand a higher likelihood of dying during admission if they go on a Saturday or Sunday.

This is a direct consequence of the Secretary of State’s repeated public assertions that hospitals are dangerous environments over the weekend because of a lack of medical staff. This line is being sold heavily on the findings of an observational study of mortality rates published in the British Medical Journal, even though the study in question made no such assertion.

The Government has spent weeks fervently pushing the message that the NHS needs to provide more services over the weekend. Ironically, Jeremy Hunt may already be pushing away those patients who need them most.

Dr H J Willis

Birmingham

In the US an 11-year-old boy has shot dead an eight-year-old girl because she would not let him play with her puppies. To prevent this from happening again, will the gun lobby recommend a reduction in the availability of guns, a cull of puppies or urge that eight-year-old owners of puppies should all carry a gun?

Jon Hawksley

London EC1

Your portrait of Accra in the 26 September edition of Traveller (“Ghana’s new creative scene”) failed to give due prominence to the excellence of indigenous art and creativity, giving too much weight to the notion that it is intrepid expats fuelling the rise of the arts in Ghana – a variation on the old and discredited theme that Africans still can’t manage without help from outsiders.

The truth is that art is, and has always been, part of the fabric of Ghanaian life and culture. Today’s vibrant indigenous art scene is simply the latest manifestation of a proud culture of creativity and is being driven by people like Mantse Aryeequaye and Sionne Neely, Bibie Brew and Attukwei Clottey.

This generation of artists create on their own terms: they create art for our people. For Ghanaians, our relationship with art goes beyond mere “appreciation”. It is art that defines us.

Kofi Amoo-Gottfried

South Orange, USA

Kuorkor Dzane

Accra, Ghana

A footnote to the death of Denis Healey is that, until last Saturday, everyone who had served as Chancellor of the Exchequer since 1974 was still alive. By contrast, we have a line of ex-Prime Ministers back to 1990, Foreign Secretaries to 2001 and Home Secretaries to 1985. I imagine this is some sort of record.

Gordon Elliot

Burford, Oxfordshire

Within weeks, four of the richest countries in the world, the US, Russia, UK and France, will be bombing one of the poorest, Syria. Can anyone justify this?

Roy Kershaw

Loughborough

If the Home Secretary really is serious about the UK becoming a cohesive society, then a good starting point is for her and her Tory colleagues not just to leave government but to leave politics, opening the way for people who believe in a just, equitable and compassionate society: that is to say, a cohesive one.

Gordon Whitehead

Scarborough, North Yorkshire