White, working class boys are marginalised – but this is nothing new

Some 10 or more years ago when I taught English Legal System, one of the topics was how to combat discrimination against ethnic minorities and women with respect to access to the different branches of the legal profession. I commented to my students that one group was not being considered – namely white working class boys who lacked the financial background and, importantly, the networks to gain access to these professions in any meaningful way. Was I ahead of the game?

Felicity McWeeney
Morpeth

When David Cameron was questioned on TV about “expert” opinion supporting his dire warnings of financial loss for individuals if the Leave vote was successful, he asked if anybody would build a house without expert advice. The big difference is that builders work to well-proven methods whereas the predictions of economists are “educated” guesses.

William W Scott
East Lothian

What has this referendum done to our country? We appear depicted as racist, intolerant and bigoted, fuelled by the inflammatory arguments on immigration. This was brought home to me by a comment from my mother-in-law who was going to vote In but is now going to vote Leave because “we are being overrun by Romanians”.

Where would our economy, or indeed the rich cultural country we are today, be if it were not for immigration? The irony of my mother-in-law’s comment is that she is in fact the daughter of Irish economic migrants. I too am the daughter of a migrant, my father having come to the UK from Poland after the Second World War. We have all worked, paid our taxes and enjoyed the culture, education and tolerance that living in a multicultural society brings.

We need to step back from the rhetoric and recognise how much less of a country we would be without migration, and that certain sectors of the economy would be devastated if EU citizens were forced to return. An end to free movement would also make it so much harder for our young people to study and work in the EU as my son has been fortunate to do.

This is the 21st century and this tiny island cannot take on the world on its own. I am first and foremost British and proud to be, but I am also a realist.

W Ford
Chester

Very little mention seems to have been made of the fact that there is nothing preordained about the net immigration from the EU that is currently occurring in the UK. Were our economic position to worsen relative to other economies, which is certainly not beyond the realm of possibility, then that net immigration could turn quite quickly into net emigration. Indeed that levelling, balancing and compensating function was and remains one of the EU's principle objectives.

Mark Langdon
London, NW8

The Remain versus Leave debate is nastier than ever now that opposition immigration has become conflated with racism. The particularly sad aspect is that judging by the location of posters, this is also starting to divide the country along lines of social class – perhaps demonstrating that the UK is not the friendly, tolerant place that some of us fondly imagined.

Patrick Cosgrove
Bucknell

I have just witnessed a disgusting display of bad manners and raucous behaviour on the part of two parliamentary members of the Question Time panel. They seemed to be unable to bring any fresh information which would enable me to reach a sensible decision.

I suppose that I should not be surprised by this as the referendum was started by Cameron to hopefully repair factional warfare in the Conservative Party, which now appears, unfortunately, to have spread throughout the country.

One of the key arguments of the Remain group is that the EU has been responsible for peace in Europe since the end of the Second World War. It appears that can no longer be true.

A plague on both their houses.

Tim Harris
Bridgnorth