For this alone we deserve recognition, not spurious demands for money. After battles and other conflicts, it was expected that the victors would either slaughter or enslave the losers.Īre we going to tell Spain to pay almost everyone in South America, or Italy to pay reparations to virtually every European country because the Romans enslaved their ancestors? Clearly, it’s nonsensical.Įngland led the world and spent a huge proportion of its GDP on the enforcement of anti-slavery. People have enslaved each other for thousands of years. Slavery is abhorrent, but these calls for compensation need to be put into perspective SIR – I find the proliferation of cries to pay reparation to nations whose people were enslaved irksome and unwarranted. In fact, many were seen as enlightened forces for good. It seems that the loathing we have for our own country stems from a new penchant for retrospective thinking, in which every British colonist is written off as a tyrant. That guilt falls on those responsible for events at the time and in context. SIR – The view that reparations must be given to former colonies and demanded from previous slave-owning families ( Letters, February 18) is part of a bandwagon of virtue signalling that needs to be halted.Ī civilised society doesn’t punish descendants for their forebears’ behaving in a manner that is now, quite rightly, seen as wholly repellent. I was given a menu telling me to “select type”, but the only option was for a cervical screening clinic.Īs an 80-year-old male, I did not proceed further. SIR – I recently tried to book an appointment with my GP surgery using the NHS app. Why does the NHS, with many other organisations, assume that if you don’t have a smartphone, you don’t exist? Imagine my joy on learning that, in the near future, requesting a repeat prescription online through the NHS will require the use of its app. SIR – Like millions of other people, I do not own a smartphone and thus cannot use “apps”. But there must be other trained medics, who cannot work full-time for one reason or another, just waiting to lend their skills. SIR – We have supply teachers doing a brilliant job in schools and colleges, and temporary NHS bank nurses filling a much-needed gap in hospitals, so why not the same for doctors who just want to work part-time? Those who have retired, but would still like to keep their hand in, will hopefully apply for the NHS Emeritus pilot scheme, which was launched in January. This practice is rated “good” by the Care Quality Commission. Starting at number 19 in the queue, she finally got through after 65 minutes, only to be told that the GP would be able to call (not see) her in four weeks’ time. The following Monday she received a text from the practice, asking her to ring to make a GP appointment to discuss the results. SIR – Regarding the provision of care at GP practices (Letters, February 18), my wife had a blood test on a Thursday. What was the point of Wednesday’s tumultuous debate in Parliament? SIR – Whatever the result of any motion in the House of Commons calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the Israeli government will continue to do what it wants. Surely we have enough problems to deal with in this country, without interfering in foreign wars. These people frightened the Labour Party and the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, into that unprecedented situation. The gangs of pro-Palestine protesters on the streets outside only go to prove this. SIR – We are now surely getting into the realms of sectarian politics, after the debacle in the House of Commons over the Gaza debate. Please, can we have our fabled British stiff upper lip back? They should, perhaps, take note of the increase in hysterical behaviour. Politicians seem to think that we are all rational human beings, persuaded by policy. We even have the modern equivalent of “the end of the world is nigh” sandwich boards, represented by fanatical climate-change activists. Since the systematic trashing of this country’s Christian values, society has rushed to fill that void with any number of beliefs, from identity and gender fluidity to blatant Islamism. People need to believe in someone and something. SIR – I do not disagree with Lord Moylan (“ Sunak ‘squanders Brexit gains’ by approving more EU rules” report, February 18), who thinks that there is a “three-dimensional void” in the upper echelons of British politics.
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