Press should never kowtow to police state

Well done to all those who have come out fighting for the freedom of the press after Scotland Yard’s threat to prosecute The Mail on Sunday for publishing the cables of the former British Ambassador in Washington, Sir Kim Darroch.

If we don’t have the right to read material that the Government doesn’t like, we have nothing. Think about all the scandals that would have been hidden from us over the years if the press had to kowtow to the state. It would be like the old Soviet Union.

There is a worrying trend for people to believe that the Government are on their side and that the press is the enemy. In many cases, the reverse is true. D. Cleary, London Resisting the threats from the police to journalists and publishers is the only way to secure the freedom of the press and to prevent this freedom-loving nation from becoming a police state. Chaka Artwell, Oxford What’s the difference between talk and speech? While talk is often cheap, speech should always be free. Someone tell Scotland Yard.

Vincent Hefter,

Richmond-upon-Thames What has been published is contrary to the national interest. The cables show our country in a bad light to the rest of the world and they will damage our relationship with our greatest ally, which is likely to be particularly damaging with Brexit looming. David White, Herne Bay, Kent Boris Johnson says: ‘It is the duty of media organisations to bring new and interesting facts into the public domain. That is what they are there for.’ Interesting that he didn’t take that approach when they recently reported on the loud verbal altercation he had with his girlfriend. Hearing about what goes on behind closed doors can be very interesting in analysing the character of a person. David Bedford, Manchester Am I the only person in the UK thinking that Sir Kim airing his opinions was absolutely one of the most essential parts of his job? An ambassador is not in a foreign country to just shake hands and attend functions, but to provide our Government with honest and unbiased views of that country’s leadership, thus enabling our own leaders to manage relationships with foreign governments. But such reports must be confidential as, by making them public, they cause untold difficulties. V. Brown, York Peter Hitchens says a proper country makes its own decisions on who its ambassadors are. A proper country controls its own borders, money and laws. This country patently does not. Mike Jones, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire So the latest revelations from the Walter Mitty world of Ambassador Darroch reveal that the President’s axeing of the deeply flawed Iran nuclear deal was all to spite Obama. What next, I wonder. That Trump defeated IS to top Obama’s killing of Osama Bin Laden? Roy Daniels, Luton