Letters: ‘Improve your English or be deported’

The following letters appear in the 19th January edition of the Independent

Young Muslim women speak to David Cameron at the Jamia Masjid mosque in Manchester in 2013. He has said Muslim women who cannot speak English will be 'susceptible' to Isis (Rex Features)

A few weeks ago I felt an uncharacteristic sense of patriotism when hearing that a certain radical American may be refused entry to the UK for his dangerous views. Today (18 January) I tried with difficulty to digest the surprising news from David Cameron.

Not only am I confused by the apparent attempt to create a law and punish people who committed their “crimes” prior to its creation, but I am also alarmed that Muslim women have been highlighted as the main perpetrators. Which leaves me to wonder, exactly what is the point Cameron is trying to make by threatening to deport Muslim spouses who fail to improve their command of English?

The policy seems to be a result of a fear of radicalisation, so can we conclude that the lack of English ability among some Muslim women in the UK is the major cause of radicalisation? Many British terrorists were recognised due to their strong British regional accents.

Of course, it is easy to point the finger at a minority group and let them take the blame for problems. However, if we wish to focus on integration among communities in the UK it may be worth noting that it is the responsibility of every one of us living here. Instead of losing our core value of tolerance it may be worth considering going one step further, to build an inclusive society where everyone is valued, regardless of their score on the International English Language Testing System.

Catherine Shipley

Guildford

David Cameron is right to say that Muslim spouses need to learn English, but that stipulation should extend beyond just spouses.

My experience as a landlord, and that of my friends who are teachers, suggests to me that there may be many young Muslim girls in the UK who are taken out of school before they get to their teens, because they are deemed by their family to have finished their education. It is not clear if they are likely to become more or less radicalised because this action means they are cut off from all interaction with their peers beyond the home. They seldom get to go beyond the family home or meet people their own age and are kept without phones or access to the internet by controlling Muslim men.

Stretched local authority budgets and the keenness of schools to remove persistently non-attending children from the roll means that these girls quickly slip under the radar. Whatever way they are nurtured within the confines of their family they are still essentially enslaved and don’t have the means to be able to become part of a modern society.

When they are married off little notice is taken because they have already been missing from education and society for many years.

Anna Taylor

Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex

The Prime Minister’s programme to teach English to Muslim mothers is welcome, albeit overdue.

Distance learning can speed this process. English by Radio enabled millions to achieve a functional level of English on the BBC World Service, until it was dropped by this government. It should be restarted on a home channel.

William Haines

Shrewsbury

Corbyn fights long slide to the right

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (18 January) eloquently details the challenges faced by Jeremy Corbyn if our country is again to become fair, compassionate and inclusive.

Since 1979 Britain has sleep-walked to the right under the guise of progress. We have been seduced into believing that high levels of remuneration for executives, reduced powers for trade unions and minimal rights for employees help to create a successful economy. We listen to the mantras of Thatcher, Blair, Cameron and Osborne that a successful economy leads us all to prosperity. People like Kelvin MacKenzie tell us on BBC’s Question Time that Corbyn is a swivel-eyed monster who wants a “North Korea-like society”.

The reality is that, even if our economy were truly successful under a right-wing government, it only enables a tiny minority to prosper at the expense of the many. We need the courage of Corbyn and his growing band of supporters to reverse this long, slow slide towards an ever more polarised society.

Alistair Wood

Four Crosses, Powys

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown complains of the right-wing bias of Question Time’s panel last week and our most powerful institutions being Conservative.

It struck me that the audience seemed to consist of a disproportionately high number of junior doctors compared to the general population. They belong to a very powerful institution called the BMA, which in turn is part of a larger institution called trade unions. Any organisation that can withdraw emergency cover in hospitals or bring London’s Underground to a halt for two days seems pretty powerful to me.

Malcolm Greenslade

Langton Green, Kent

I am dismayed to read about Labour politicians who say they may resign if the party opposes renewing Trident. I wonder how many of them were opposed to the Iraq war but happy to serve under Tony Blair?

Brendan O’Brien

London N21

In the early days of the Polaris project Harold Wilson floated the idea of sending the boats to sea as attack submarines, armed only with torpedoes. Jeremy Corbyn has hit on the same wheeze, though now the weapons outfit could include cruise missiles.

It would make more sense to “save” Barrow jobs by building more Astute-class attack submarines, which we badly need.

Frank Donald

Edinburgh

The Queen’s appalling birthday bash

When I read Rosie Millard’s article about the Queen’s birthday charity bash (16 January), I thought: surely it can’t be 1 April already. The concept of charities paying the Royal Family for anything at all does stretch the bounds of credibility to its limits. One surely would have expected money to be travelling in the opposite direction.

It is to be hoped that charities will, as one, politely decline their invitation to take part in this appalling project. Those, if any, that do attend should make the fact known to the public, so that potential donors can think again before wasting their money.

Dr John Coad

Harpenden, Hertfordshire

Scots could vote England out of the EU

If the UK votes to leave the EU the Scottish National Party will be able, rightly, to claim that Scotland is so different in her economic thinking that leaving the UK is the only path now open to her.

Unfortunately, given the recent reported lead in the polls for the Out campaign, this opens the possibility of the very worst kind of tactical voting. Specifically, a Scottish voter desirous of staying in the EU would be best advised, paradoxically, to vote “Out” in order to trigger a second Scottish independence referendum, with the nationalists undoubtedly promising to join the EU as a new nation.

The realisation of this fact is inevitably bound to gain traction in the coming months and skew the result so that England, Wales and Northern Ireland could, conceivably, find themselves outside the EU even though they might have voted to stay in.

Vaughan Thomas

Usk, Gwent

How I wooed a post office stamp machine

Marcus Berkmann’s piece in The Independent Magazine (16 January) on the rise of automatic tills in shops and banks reminded me of my latest visit to a main Post Office, similarly “modernised”, to get a small package posted.

Rather than queuing at the counter, a very helpful girl guided me through the process of obtaining a stamp from one of the intimidating machines. All went well, but at the end of the touch-screen-pressing, coin-inserting and change-receiving procedure no stamp appeared. The girl was as mystified as I was, so we had to queue-barge a counter, only to be told: “Sometimes you need to blow into the dispensing slot to make it work.”

Sure enough, the stamp appeared. Perhaps just murmuring endearments in its ear would have the same effect?

Chris Blackman

Ashen, Essex

Yet another sport corruption scandal

Now it’s the turn of tennis, and I can’t say I’m surprised. The money’s too tempting, the egos too inflated.

If I were king for a day I would ban all professional sport. It’s the source of massive corruption. Millions are spent on short-lived vanity projects by governments looking to boost misplaced national pride or the personal status of foul dictators. With their narcissistic behaviour and obscene spending habits, sports superstars are the worst role models for young people and impressionable adults.

“Professional sport”? The phrase itself is a contradiction in terms.

Patrick Cosgrove

Chapel Lawn, Shropshire