Letters: The sectarian killing in Glasgow sheds new light on the folly of the 'war on terror'

The horrible alleged divisive Muslim sectarian killing of Glasgow shopkeeper Asad Shah may at least draw attention to the great lie of Blair’s war on terror: that there is a universal radical Islam conspiracy comfortably crossing global Sunni, Shia, Alawite Ahmadiyya demographics, supposedly uniting peoples separated by Arabic, Pashto, Urdo and other languages. This is little different to the racist mantra that was used to legitimise the horrors of British imperialist conquest.

On 9/11, America was attacked by Saudi Arabian Sunni Whabbist fanatics. This was then used to excuse the war on Shia Iraq and to militarily threaten the similarly oil rich Iranian Shia theocratic regime. These people have about as much in common as Ulster Loyalists and Irish Republicans.

The only thing that could unite some of the conflicted members of this diaspora would be the indiscriminate killing of their populations. In this, Blair and the other pro-war-for-oil hawks may have made their own discourse come true.

Dr Gavin Lewis
Manchester

The political domestic news at the moment is dominated by splits within the Conservative Party over education, health, welfare, Europe and so on. And, for many, whether Boris Johnson will end up as the new Tory leader and, possibly, the next Prime Minster. The Labour party is equally divided.

Both the Conservative and Labour Parties have destroyed Britain, domestically. And yet both have hard working, proper Members of Parliament, who you could call ‘centre ground’. Why don’t they just jump-ship and become Liberals? Tim Farron, I am sure will welcome genuine defections from the other Parties, and certainly many more new members of all ages from right across the whole UK.

The centre ground is there for the Liberal Democrats to dominate. The Liberal Democrats have always supported our membership of the European Union - and they have suggested that it needs works. The only way to achieve that is to be playing a full part in all that is going on in Europe. In other words, we must be the decision makers.

The EU Referendum on 27 June is about the future of our younger people - their security, jobs, freedoms, environment, conservation and families. Surely, they would rather have co-operation than fighting. The rest of the World wants the EU to survive, and the UK to remain there. A divided UK will not stand the strain on its own.

Richard F. Grant
Burley, Hampshire

Sir Richard Dearlove used to be in charge of MI6. Of people in high places, he is thus the best-placed to advise on the UK’s security. He states that the most important prerequisite for restricting the risk of terrorism is for the UK to retake control of its own borders.

That is simply impossible in the EU, as Belgians are fully aware. His position is, therefore, that the UK therefore has to leave. It’s also a very good reason for HM Government not to reduce spending on border forces.

Jeffrey Shaw
Sheffield

Nicola Sturgeon was extremely confident that she could lead an independent Scotland to economic success. In stark contrast, David Cameron only feels able to lead the UK whilst all of the important decisions are made for him by the EU. What a startling admission of failure, apprehension and self-doubt by him and on behalf of his country! I propose 'a vote of no confidence' in him. Step down, you wimp.

Brian Rushton
Stourport-on-Severn

The smoking ban in Scotland is now 10 years old. The benefits to our society have been immense. The current Scottish Government has been slow to progress this smoking ban by extending it to all open areas to include parks and beaches in order to clean up our countryside for all to enjoy.

Dennis Forbes Grattan
Aberdeen

Piers Morgan was quite wrong in saying that everyone underestimated Donald Trump. What has happened is that we all overestimated the intelligence of many people in the United States. On Trump's pronouncement that there should be no restrictions on firearms in EU countries, does anyone really believe that it would be fine for every EU citizen to have the right to own a handgun?

Henry Page
Newhaven

Writing in Saturday's final print edition about the birth of the Independent, author Sebastian Faulks gave a pen portrait of 1986. “There was something in the air”, he wrote. “You no longer had to wait three weeks for the national phone company to fix your line.” If only we could go back in time. Nowadays it's often three months. And then it doesn't work.

Patrick Cosgrove
Bucknell, Shropshire

How to counter the effects of daylight saving changes? Just do it and don't worry about it. I hear so many people moaning beforehand about 'oh, I miss my sleep', that it becomes obvious: they are talking themselves into feeling affected.

Cole Davis
London, NW2

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