Boris Johnson is making a bid for the xenophobic vote, and minorities will pay the price

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Boris Johnson has exhibited what he has learned at the feet of Steve Bannon (Getty)

Last week came the news that Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg had met with Steve Bannon, the leading figure in the racist “alt-right” movement.

Bannon was the ideological driving force behind Donald Trump’s campaign for the US presidency and has been feted by far-right politicians across Europe, including Hungary’s deeply antisemitic Viktor Orban and Italy’s rabidly anti-migrant Matteo Salvini. Earlier this year, Bannon told a rally of the fascist Front Nationale to wear the label “racist” and “xenophobe” as “a badge of honour”.

Boris Johnson has just exhibited what he has learned at the feet of Bannon by making a filthy attack on women who chose to wear the burqua, comparing them to “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”.

Johnson is making a bid for the racist vote. Muslim women who face daily attacks by Islamophobes will pay the price.

Sasha Simic
London N16

How odd that a man who went to a school with a Dickensian dress code and who chooses to impersonate a mop head on a bladder sack, should feel free to insult Muslim women – describing their attire as “looking like letterboxes”.

Is he not satisfied that his years of writing inflammatory columns in the gutter press helped to lever in the disaster of Brexit? Does he now want to inflame even more right-wing elements in society as a distraction? Is this a political niqab to cover his own exposure ahead of a leadership bid?

Amanda Baker
Edinburgh

The far left and far right are one and the same

Politics exist in a circle of beliefs, ideals, aspirations, hope, despair, hatred and greed.

At the top of the circle in its very limited segment, we find true social democracy – based upon a caring, compassionate, cooperative global society.

To the left, we have moderate socialism that becomes increasingly radical and restrictive as it tumbles towards the bottom of the circle.

When it gets to the bottom, we find a distorted fanatical national socialism based upon envy, hatred, nationalism, xenophobia and racism.

To the right, we find a competitive conservatism that becomes increasingly greedy, self-serving and radical as it tumbles towards the bottom of the circle.

When it gets to the bottom, we find a distorted fanatical ideology based upon profit, greed, self-interest, exploitation, disdain for the poor, hatred, nationalism, xenophobia, racism, and elitism.

And we realise that at the bottom of the political circle, the extreme left and the extreme right look just the same – and they pollute, divide, isolate and destroy societies and communities in precisely the same way.

Here in the UK, we are living in a time when our two major political parties have both reached the bottom of the political circle.

Martin Deighton
Address supplied

Europe: what might have been

No, I’m not talking about something that happened in 2016. I mean the last 40-odd years. I mean the great European project and a time in the 1970s when most continental people I met actually thought we believed in it.

We didn’t.

At the time, the UK was a bit skint so we joined Europe for the money – or if you like, the “economy” – nothing else.

The Europeans truly believed that we wanted to be Europeans too.

We didn’t. Our only interest was trade or, if you like, the money -– same thing.

There was a hope that membership of the EU meant that UK citizens would immerse themselves more deeply in their shared European culture, its traditions, its celebrations, its optimistic view of a common future for all our children. We would all be Europeans.

It never happened.

There was another hope that the UK would put its unique international status, its leadership, its long democratic experience and its global connections at the service of its European friends.

We rarely did. Don’t forget, we were only in it for the money.

And, if you are one of the 48 per cent, did you take the trouble to go out and vote for your MEP? Do you actually know the name of your MEP? Have you ever tried, really tried, to learn to speak a European language? Fluently, I mean?

Have you ever asked yourself why, unlike other EU countries, our public buildings have rarely flown the EU flag, our schoolchildren are mostly unaware of the EU anthem, our leaders are never seen with an EU flag in the background? Similarly, the BBC, unlike its North American, Australasian and Asian counterparts, never shows the weather patterns for the rest of our continent.

Do you think you are European or are your aspirations further afield – for instance, British Columbia, New Zealand or Bondi Beach?

And when, just before the referendum, you had your final chance to speak up for Europe, what was the only thing you banged on about? Economics. That’s right. The money!

That morning after the referendum, a tearful French girl said to a group of English students at a bus stop in Hammersmith: “We never realised you hated us so much.”

C Holt
Hammersmith, London

Is a three-way vote really the best option for Brexit?

As a Remain voter, I understand the frustrations of those who wish the EU referendum result had been different, and who now wonder if another vote might be the answer. In Scotland, we have had our fill of referendums, learning the hard way how they draw out the worst of all sides, and then deliver results that leave winners and losers alike trapped in discontent.

As for the proposed people’s vote on the EU, it depends what the people are asked. Those arguing for a three-way vote between no deal, a compromise deal, and staying in the EU, perhaps imagine that while staying in the EU might not win an outright majority on first choices, the second choices of those voting for a compromise deal, would take them over a majority.

Yet, if the ballot offered only a choice between no-deal and the eventual compromise deal, the latter would likely carry the day. Equally, if the choice posed was between staying in the EU, or accepting the eventual compromise deal, again the latter might very well win.

So, are those calling for a three-way vote, genuinely seeking the will of the people, or simply looking to structure a vote to deliver their preferred outcome?

Keith Howell
West Linton

Maybe younger teens shouldn’t get to vote after all

Lydia Wilkins’ article about her reassessing her stance on Brexit is the most powerful article I have read to demonstrate why 16-year-olds should not be allowed to vote. While I previously believed that such a vote was a credible extension of voters’ rights, her eloquent demonstration of the capricious nature of youth has led me to re-evaluate. Sixteen-year-olds may need to grow up a bit first.

Alistair Vincent
London EN5

We need to do better

There is an amusing saying about failure – “they have hit rock bottom and started digging” – suggesting things can’t get any worse. And yet, we see many examples of the levels to which some people can sink.

In this area, we have many inspiring examples: sports people who don’t understand that drugs and cheating are wrong, celebrities that don’t understand what celebrity really means, and world leaders who don’t know how to lead or even play nice.

There are many wise people, laws created after long debates, religious texts that all provide guidance as to how we should lead our lives, but there is a simpler version: don’t do anything that you can’t tell your grandmother about.

This is highlighted by one story of the many over the weekend involving crimes, disasters both human created and natural and political mayhem – a nine-year-old boy selling lemonade on a sidewalk in Monroe, North Carolina was robbed at gun point. Nothing justifies or excuses this. Let’s make this the final example of a world gone wrong and look for ways to make it better for everyone, including those you don’t like, those who look different, those that speak differently and even those that oppose you.

Dennis Fitzgerald
Address supplied