Don’t forget climate crisis

I DON’T know Sami Pinarbasi who has launched a campaign to remove the statue of Robert Peel from Piccadilly Gardens and to defund GMP, but his hurt and anger is evident as the explanation accompanying the petition draws attention to grievances with the tag Black Lives Matter.

As the grandparent of a number of dual heritage BAME children I agree with him. And I must concede that with my (white, non-diverse and privileged) background I’ve not been on the receiving end of the racism, I acknowledge it to have been – and still remain –a pervasive blight in our country. It bedevils our society, breeding alienation, low expectations, hostility and all too often, mental, verbal and physical violence.

Just saying ‘Stephen Lawrence’ evokes a good example; nothing adequately says it all.

But protesting against the celebration of a reformer because their father held repugnant views smacks of woke virtue signalling; wanting their statue removed of 1984-esque memory-holing.

Other figures may also fall foul of modern standards. Are we to lose Cromwell for his Irish oppression, or our new Gandhi? His widely reported dodgy power games/ sexual practices and attitude to Blacks when in South Africa seems repugnant nowadays. It has led to the cry #GhandiMustFall and attacks on statutes in Africa and the U.S.

YOUR correspondent Margaret Brown (Viewpoints, June 9) is absolutely right when she writes that ‘other serious problems have been pushed into the background. The most important of these is climate change.’

It is almost a year since Manchester council unanimously