I am one of that first generation born post-Holocaust. My parents came here as German Jewish refugees from a horrific and murderous regime that wanted to wipe them from the face of the earth. My grandparents failed to make it out and were exterminated in a concentration camp.
I remember the stories of my father being interned in the UK as an “enemy alien”. Not allowed to work, not allowed to take up arms, subject to racial abuse from people who wrongly thought he was a Nazi.
And now, as we watch the horrific events unfolding in a country only around three hours’ flying time from here, I see the same response from this government towards the people of Ukraine (Ukrainians denied entry to UK despite being eligible for visa, 28 February). Only a “select” few Ukrainians are being allowed to come here. Only those with family, or those who might be willing to pick fruit. The doors are once again being held partly and reluctantly open.
Carol Hedges
Harpenden, Hertfordshire
• I came to Britain as a refugee student from Prague in 1968 when the Soviet army and its Warsaw pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia. The invasion of Ukraine brings back memories. Britain welcomed me with generosity, kindness and compassion; it enabled me to complete my university education, become a history teacher and integrate fully in the British way of life. I have been grateful to Britain ever since. Will Britain now show the same compassion to the refugees from Ukraine and welcome them as it once welcomed me?
Zuzana Crouch
Bristol
• I have an idea regarding the oligarchs and their dirty money and properties in London. How about we evict them, take their assets, reclaim their properties and invite Ukrainian refugees to come live in them?
Steven Cooley
Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex
• It’s a shame that the significance of the oligarchs’ estate at St George’s Hill in Weybridge, Surrey, seems lost (Tensions rise at the £3bn Surrey estate Russian oligarchs call home, 28 February). Brief history lesson: in April 1649, common land on the hill was occupied by a group known as the Diggers, who are often regarded as early exponents of communism.
Margaret Farnworth
Liverpool
• At the weekend, the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, was asked if she was in favour of young people volunteering to fight in the Ukraine (Report, 28 February). Her reply was yes. This not only contravenes the advice given by her own department, but is irresponsible in the extreme. To encourage young persons, many of whom will be untrained, is completely ridiculous.
One has to wonder what she will say to the grieving parents when their children return maimed or in body bags. I know we have learned not to expect too much common sense from this government, but this latest piece of advice is, to my mind, foolhardy and dangerous.
Dr Trefor Stockwell
Bodorgan, Anglesey
• The insistence on the “correct” pronunciation of Kyiv seems to be driven by guilt about colonialism and the suppression of identities (How to pronounce and spell ‘Kyiv’, and why it matters, 25 February). The argument needs to be tempered by an acceptance that there is no obligation to pronounce foreign place names precisely in the manner of the locals. For example, the English pronunciation of the capitals of France, Italy and Spain is not at all the same as the local pronunciation. It works both ways: ask a French person, an Italian and a Spaniard to name the capital of England and you will get two different spellings and three different pronunciations.
Michael Brook
Nevada City, California, US
• Oliver Bullough, take a bow (Boris Johnson claims the UK is rooting out dirty Russian money. That’s ludicrous, 25 February). He cuts to the quick of the tragedy we are seeing unfold in Ukraine and our complicity in laying the ground for such a denouement. No hindsight here though; it’s all happened in plain sight. We’ve known for long enough that Vladimir Putin is a danger. We’ve known that looted Russian money, extracted from the collapse of the Soviet Union, was flowing through London unchecked. And since that union’s demise in 1991 – the supposed end of the cold war, remember – we’ve watched as our former foes have embraced a feral capitalism, hiding behind the muscle of authoritarian states, fuelled by populist nationalism.
All the while, countries across the west, but especially the UK, have trumpeted the triumph of western values while cosying up to the Russian kleptocrats and, crucially, their money. These political donations were designed to buy influence, silence and, ultimately a bogus legitimacy. If our values are so easily corrupted, what point is there in defending them? As Bullough concludes, we need to invest in the future of democracy, not just rhetoricise about it now that it’s threatened.
Colin Montgomery
Edinburgh
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