Mass demonstrations are not rational

bullying invasion of the Ukraine and its movement towards a more totalitarian regime, similar to that of the former communist USSR. Russian ties with the rest of the world, not just the EU, have gone backwards under President Putin.

Mr Westerman’s broad statements about the tyranny of the Czars, Conservatism and Churchill’s hatred of Russia (this is incorrect, he hated Communism) are gross simplifications of exceedingly complex issues and fail to add anything to his argument. To blame Churchill for the Cold War is ludicrous and it was in fact mainly caused by Soviet Premier Stalin’s and US President Truman’s actions and distrust at the end of and after WW2. Again, a very complex subject glossed over in an attempt to promote a weak argument.

Dave Chafer Yeovil, Somerset

ON the day that it has been confirmed that people of colour and some other ethnic minorities are more likely to suffer severe reactions (and a higher death rate) if they contract Covid-19, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people attended ‘Black Lives Matter’ demonstrations in Hyde Park and outside 10 Downing Street – most of them not wearing masks and very few observing social-distancing.

Given that the government has admitted that allowing the Cheltenham Festival to go ahead in March caused a big spike in Corona cases and many deaths, I think we can well expect to see a big spike in Covid-19 cases as a result of today’s mass protests – triggered by the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by rogue Minneapolis police officers.

Mass demonstrations that put hundreds of thousands at risk of contracting Covid-19 are not exactly a rational way of getting the message