Lack of support for subpostmasters

80th Anniversary of D Day on June 6

As our nation commemorates this special anniversary on June 6, let’s remember that there wouldn’t have been a D Day without the successful evacuation of Allied Forces from Dunkirk four years earlier.

At that time over 350,000 Allied troops were trapped across the Channel by the German Army and if they couldn’t be rescued, the UK would have been invaded. Britain was on the verge of defeat. There could be no help from other European countries and America hadn’t even entered the war.

What happened next may seem strange to today’s generation, but to the people of wartime Britain it was perfectly natural.

King George VI broadcast an urgent message to the nation, declaring May 26 to be a special day of national prayer and urged everyone to pray for divine intervention.

In response to his call, millions of people attended special church services, pleading for deliverance. At one point the response was so great that the queue of people trying to get into Westminster Abbey stretched for a quarter of a mile.

Two events occurred straight after this national day of prayer. Firstly, a violent storm arose over the Dunkirk region grounding the Luftwaffe which had been killing thousands on the beaches.

And then secondly, a great calm descended on the Channel, the like of which hadn’t been seen for a generation.

It was in fact this Channel calm, coming at that precise time, which permitted hundreds of tiny boats to sail across and help rescue 335,000 soldiers.

These two events happening when they did were so dramatic, that people named it “the miracle of Dunkirk” and Sunday June 9 was officially appointed as a day of national thanksgiving.

The Bishop of Chelmsford Dr HA Wilson wrote: “If ever a great nation was on the point of supreme and final disaster, and yet was saved and reinstated it was ourselves…it does not require an exceptionally religious mind to detect in all this the Hand of God.”

D Day took place on June 6, 1944, exactly four years after Dunkirk. Allied forces were once again in France, this time with the aim of liberating Europe from Nazism.

As we commemorate this special 80th anniversary and reflect on lives lost to bring freedom, let us remember that it wouldn’t have happened without “the miracle of Dunkirk”.

Rev J Willans BD Dip Theol, Leigh.

Outgoing First Minister Humza Yousaf has been urged to clear up why his government has yet to propose legislation to exonerate wrongly convicted sub-postmasters.

Humza Yousaf claims to be outraged that UKwide legislation won’t apply in Scotland, yet his Lord Advocate has said she opposed the blanket exonerations which underpin the UK bill.

Yousaf must clarify whether the Lord Advocate has changed her mind, or he has overruled her. Either way, Dorothy Bain must come to parliament and explain her position and that of the Scottish Government.

Despite first becoming aware of this scandal in 2020, Yousaf has done nothing but use it to stoke constitutional grievances. Instead, he must act to exonerate, unfairly convicted postmasters as soon as possible.

Councillor Alastair Redman, Kintyre and the Islands ward (former sub postmaster for

12 years)