YOUR SHOUT

Fiona, I’ve always admired you for being a fair, ‘normal’ person, looking out for the disadvantaged and fighting for fairness. I admire the way you’ve brought your kids up – sending them to comprehensive schools and making them work for their money. But not any more.

Last week you said churches should open their doors to the homeless. In my city, Hull, churches do a huge amount to help the homeless: soup kitchens, offering food, clothes, haircuts, shower facilities and friendship.

Instead of insulting Christians, you ought to target foreign property buyers who buy blocks of flats, leaving them empty to increase in value. Why aren’t they opened up to the homeless? Yvonne Kavanagh, via email FP: I find religion divisive, Yvonne, but totally applaud the efforts of good, kind people who help those in need.

Fiona, I am 76 and was sexually abused as a child and raped several times as an adult. I am now divorced as my ex used to force me to have sex too.

I have so much empathy for women who are abused. I never dared tell my mum, and my brother even saw a man abusing me in a cinema but ignored it. Name withheld, via email

FP: This is so distressing and I admire your bravery in sharing your story. In my eyes you are a giant. You really need to talk to someone, so that, eventually, you will realise that too.

Fiona, I agree that there’s a climate of disrespect towards women, but the real story is about how many people turned a blind eye to Harvey Weinstein so they could benefit from his patronage.

He could only abuse women given a culture complicit with his actions. Women have to challenge repressive behaviour. Paul, via email