Letters - Thursday December 17 2020

I’m awaiting the howls of anguish from Brexiteers at the decision of UK billionaire Ineos boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe to renege on his promise to build his new 4X4 in South Wales. He now plans to do so at a site in France near the German border.

You’d have thought that having committed to Wales in 2018 as a sign of faith in the manufacturing future of a non-EU UK, this Leave-backing businessman, reputed to be Britain’s richest, would have done his patriotic duty and put his hand in his pocket to support Brexit Britain even if costs turned out to be higher than expected.

No such luck I’m afraid. Fellow Leave supporter Sir James Dyson now prefers Singapore and Sir Jim chooses France, a country derided by the Brexiteers as full of enterprise-stifling red tape.

Business in Britain operates in an international context. Almost half the shares traded in London are owned by non-UK people and companies. Famous names like Harrods, Cadbury and Rolls-Royce or Jaffa Cakes of United Biscuits are foreign owned (they’re part of a Turkish conglomerate). But living in a Palmerstonian timewarp where Britannia still rules the waves with potential gunboat diplomacy, Boris Johnson and the Brexiteers cherish a notional sovereignty which might partially work for China or the USA but never can for Britain given our size, history and geography.

For example, the UK is likely to lose access to the Schengen area criminal database just as the Irish Republic imminently becomes a full member thus improving Ireland’s ability to tackle serious crime. But the ‘sovereign’ police forces in the UK will have to fight international crime with the methods of 1951 rather than 2021.

I agree with the First Minister of Scotland who stated that “Boris Johnson is failing to grasp or accept that responsible, independent countries in the modern world have to collaborate and work with others, and at times pool sovereignty for the greater good, for the greater well-being and prosperity of their populations”.

Well said Nicola Sturgeon and thanks Sir Jim for showing the gruesome reality of Brexit.

James Bovington

address supplied

virus

What magnificent leadership we have!

What magnificent leadership on the part of Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson as regards coronavirus.

The swift action of the Government to deal with fresh spikes of the virus underlines this.

The fact that a new variant of Covid-19 has been identified so quickly also proves what a great job the scientists are doing. People should be very careful, think about their local NHS, and ultimately save lives.

Geoffrey Brooking

via email

virus

Look after each other

From our experience in Australia, the more we mix, the longer it will take to get us back to normal.

Christmas is wonderful but now that we have all the mod cons, surely we can enjoy Christmas for what it is – a joyous time spent this year looking after each other by not visiting and really, it is usually only for a few hours of joyous laughter and gifts.

This year perhaps you should all stay home.

I think this would be our intention if we were faced with your problem.

We are all praying for you in the UK and hope you all can stay well.

Kind regards and a very happy Christmas.

There, we have done our Christmas cheer and not caught anything from each other!

Sheila

Australia