Brexit: bold step for our proud nation or a threat to peace?
I AM a former GP who worked in the NHS for more than 40 years. I am a Tamil from Sri Lanka. When I arrived here, it was Great Britain, a country fearless, fair and welcoming. I have lived through devaluation of the pound, Maastricht, ERM and now the EU referendum. We had Winston Churchill, who defended democracy and defeated fascism. We had Margaret Thatcher, who defended democracy in the Falklands against Argentinian tyranny. We now have David Cameron, who wants this brave country, the mother of democracy, to surrender to Brussels bureaucracy and is proposing that we should become a nation of cowards. I, together with millions of British people, am ashamed to say that this Prime Minister wants us to walk with heads bowed down as a far-flung province of the United States of Europe. He has created a sense of fear, particularly, in the minds of the young, that it is going to be doom and gloom if we don’t remain in Europe. We need not be afraid. A third of the world is English-speaking like us. We are the fifth-largest economy. Our Queen is the head of the Commonwealth, and the hitherto neglected Commonwealth will become our partner if we leave the EU. And we can still trade with Europe and our jobs will be secure. Let us, the British people, once again, walk tall! Dr ra J chandran, Mbbs, Drcog, Frsa,
major (retd) RAMC, London W2. Dr Chandran is a former Conservative mayor of gedling, Nottingham, former Commissioner for racial equality UK, and a present National executive member of Ukip.
FOR many centuries, the French and German peoples, sometimes with allies including English, were at each other’s throats. Then came two wars, with slaughter on an industrial scale. For the past 70 years there has been peace, and that is an incredible achievement, hardly managed anywhere else worldwide. For more than 40 years, Britain has helped with that, too, as part of the EU. The forerunners of the EU guessed that the close linking of economies might prevent more wars — and it has worked well. But now we all have lots of weaponry among us and disagreements are building up. Isn’t it better to go on co-operating, using the available institutions, rather than acting separately — or even worse, risk resorting to arms? Also, air pollution, diseases, crime — and climate change — don’t stop at borders, so we have to help each other on those and many other things. Immigration? Yes, we need to co-operate there, too. That’s very hard indeed, but out of some 60 million displaced worldwide, Europe gets only a small proportion, and we just have to handle together a pressure that cannot be stopped. If we allowed incomers to start working quickly: producing, building, using their skills, learning the language (there are nurses and doctors among them), then with their taxes they would contribute much more than they cost. Nor should we forget that each is a human being, and it could have happened to us.
Theodore Bacon, York.