The patronising imposition of victim status

SIR – I am a descendant of slaves, but have gone through life as anything but a victim. I have experienced both successes and reversals, like everyone else I know, black or white. Now, at the age of 59, I watch as our institutions and corporations suffer a collective emotional breakdown, self-flagellating about things done more than 150 years ago.

For whose benefit are these apologies, prostrations and self-abasements being effected? I feel neither better nor worse than I did before the outpouring.

I am greatly offended, though, by the casual imposition, as a corollary of the apologies, of victim status on me and those like me. Platitudinous apologies simply underscore the tired trope that the white man is forever responsible for the black man – which he isn’t.

We should be left alone, afforded equality of opportunity, and allowed to get on with our lives. It really is that simple.

Colin Wynter QC

London EC2

SIR – I was born, raised and educated far from the British Isles, and have been exhorted to adopt “British values” to aid my integration, which has never been a problem.

But what are British values today? We have seen rampaging mobs reminiscent of the Red Guards attacking historic monuments and statues. Leading members of community and educational establishments, meanwhile, seem happy to endorse the traducing of those who gave this country its heritage, without regard for the different times in which they lived.

Institutions such as the Church of England and leading places of learning have adopted “woke” philosophies, which are intolerant and damaging to racial harmony. I do not find these values among my social or work contacts, and so I intend to stick with the values I was brought up with – even if it means that the establishment regards me as an alien once again.

Bryan Mcgee

High Peak, Derbyshire