It’s time for soft touch Britain to toughen up

WELL-MEANING, but pointless, suggestions are offered to curb Channel crossings by migrants, but they will not be stopped by Customs or the Royal Navy.

Most of us don’t object to providing refuge to migrants fleeing oppression and death threats.

however, dangerous countries create dangerous people. I suggest that when refugee status is granted, citizenship is subject to ten years’ probation.

Violent, sexual or other serious crime committed within that time should result in deportation — no dither, delay nor appeal.

Genuine asylum seekers will become good citizens of this country as they work towards and truly value citizenship.

DON TROWER, braintree, essex.

I AM horrified the cost to taxpayers of illegal migrants and asylum seekers is over £1billion (Mail).

The migrants are breaking rules by not seeking asylum in the first safe country they come to. They want to come to Britain because we are such a soft touch.

Why are we so squeamish about simply returning them to France?

CHerYL FeLIX, Marton, Lincs.

Rebels without a clue

JUST who do the members of extinction Rebellion think they are — and what gives them the right to attempt to stop the distribution of newspapers?

They are clearly driven by a twisted, self-righteous zealotry, but do they not understand the consequences of their actions? Or can it be that from their position on the high moral ground, as in the past, they just don’t care?

JOHN L. rIMMer, Hamilton, Lanarkshire.

TRYING to stop newspaper production because you don’t approve of the views expressed is shocking intolerance and reminiscent of 1930s Germany.

An attack on the free press is an attack on democracy — who are these arrogant people, who clearly think they know better than the rest of us? WILLIAM bALLANtINe,

bo’ness, West Lothian.

Killing civilisation

eXTINCTION Rebellion demand that all coal and oil should be left in the ground.

But we need coal to produce steel, which is the bedrock of construction and manufacturing, and oil to produce plastics, lubricants and fuel.

Giving in to their demands would usher in a new Dark Age. WILLIAM LONesKIe, Lauder, berwickshire.

Milking a royal deal

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have negotiated a multi-millionpound contract with Netflix to enable them to propagate various good causes they espouse.

As they are so altruistic, would it not be nobler to provide these services free of charge or via a charitable organisation, otherwise we might get the false impression they’re in it just for the money.

In view of their great desire to improve the planet, I feel sure they would not wish the public to think this contract is intended to fund their lavish lifestyle. rObert ANtHONY,

bromham, beds.

Plane and simple

IF airlines and airport bosses really want to get Britain flying, then they should put their hands into their own pockets and pay for Covid testing at airports themselves — instead of blaming the Government and trying to siphon off taxpayers’ money.

KArL eDWArDs, Argyll.

Following the rules

DON’T tar all children with the same brush. My two sons aged 11 and 14 have not been mixing with their mates and ignoring the social distancing rules.

They visit their grandparents in their garden, no hugging allowed, and have just started training in a bubble for their football team. During lockdown they only went out to walk the dog with us.

Unfortunately, there is no social distancing at school and some other children couldn’t care less. TRACEY GILVEAR, Ellisfield, Hants.

Changing channels?

HAVING made a promising start about impartiality and staff media use, the BBC’s new Director General has fallen down already with a change in just one word.

he stated that those who worked for the BBC had to be impartial on air and private media. But now he says that people working ‘AT’ the BBC do not! So the nonsensical and shouty Gary Lineker and others can continue.

So will Tim Davie just be more of the same? Presumably he is going through some conversion therapy as I write.

ALLAN BELL, edinburgh.

Driving ambition

RULES governing F1 don’t favour Mercedes (Letters). It’s just that they have been more adept than other teams in exploiting them.

It is no coincidence that the top three spending teams have won every Grand Prix between them since 2013. had Lewis hamilton been driving the worse performing car in the pack over the past eight seasons, he would not have amassed his number of wins.

The only way to spice up racing is to change the rules. Make every car identical and equip them with rudimentary aerodynamics.

Wouldn’t it be ironic if the driver standings remained more or less the same?

NIGEL THOMPSON, rossendale, Lancs.

A law unto himself

DONALD Trump ignores public outrage over black issues, dissociates himself from climate controversy and separates from the WHO over the pandemic.

Yet he purports to uphold law and order by supporting a street shooting and continues to appeal to the ‘rootin, tootin’ Right-wing. What kind of society would reelect such a person?

D. DUNCAN, Aberdeen.

Not rational

IT’S astonishing that Whitehall has splurged £56 million on consultants (Mail).

I worked for a large engineering firm and when consultants were called in to ‘rationalise’ the company, we were instructed to ‘look busy’. We did as we were told and nothing changed.

We could never understand why highly paid directors needed outside advice to tell them how to do our job.

DAVID DRAVEN, burley, W. Yorks.