Farewell Great Britain – we’re now an also-ran
Where did it all go wrong for Great Britain? During the past 60 years, many countries have suffered from the aftermath of the Second World War, and we are among them – once a great nation, we have become an also-ran.
In his brilliant, two-page Mail on Sunday tour de force last week, Peter Hitchens made crystal clear what has gone wrong. He has warned repeatedly that things would only get worse if we continued to vote for those who failed to deliver on their promises.
Our Armed Forces and our police forces have been severely cut back, losing us any hope of being a country others look up to. Policies made without public consultation have wrecked the countryside and grandiose schemes have eaten into our reserves, leaving essential services struggling.
Peter Hitchens remembers another country – full of common sense, duty, loyalty and pride in all that was British. Will we ever see that Britain again? David Harvey, Chippenham I’m afraid I must profoundly disagree with Peter Hitchens when he warns that the legacy of decades of incompetent governments would be worsened by the election of a British Trump.
Peter rightly defines the problems of uncontrolled immigration swamping our social services and creating a low-wage economy, along with the decline of manufacturing, the rise of socialism and unaffordable social programmes, the run-down of our military and the mad Middle Eastern wars giving rise to Islamic terrorism and IS. But weren’t these the same problems US voters elected Trump to solve? And isn’t he doing just that? Roy Daniels, Luton Peter Hitchens just about summed up this forlorn country. The latest collection of so-called politicians are not fit for purpose. D.N. Harris, Fareham, Hampshire In Trump we have the most pro-British President in years and yet we insult him. Is there anyone who believes that with a ‘Trump’ negotiating with the EU, we wouldn’t have been in a far better position – and sooner – than now? R. Corder, Pembridge, Herefordshire Peter Hitchens paints a pessimistic view. While I, too, feel nostalgic about the 1950s and 1960s, surely it is important, at a time of national uncertainty, to be more optimistic. There is peace in Northern Ireland; schools still produce university graduates; and the end of our membership of the EU is in sight.
Mr Hitchens makes good points about our education system, the decline of Christian influence, immigration and policing, but we still enjoy one of the world’s greatest democracies and he should harbour hope for the future. Alan Wild, Birmingham It is not President Trump who is crushing American civilisation. It is the destructive anti-Trump whiners who try to stop him from saving America. President Trump is blamed for everything when it’s not his fault at all! Mr and Mrs Thorkildsen, Cornhillon-Tweed, Northumberland