YP Letters: The need to integrate in British life

From: Charles Jones, Huddersfield.
Floral tributes outside Parliament.Floral tributes outside Parliament.
Floral tributes outside Parliament.

I READ with some bemusement the article by Dr Mohammed Ali on the London murders (The Yorkshire Post, March 27). He makes a comparison between the London outrage and five people killed daily on Britain’s roads.

He is unhappy that “the finger of suspicion pointed at the Asian community”. No Dr Ali, the media pointed the finger of suspicion at Khalid Masood and perhaps his relatives and associates. Why does Dr Ali have a problem with the obvious?

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And Dr Ali omits that the media are not only commenting on the murders in London but are also reporting many meetings of Muslims expressing their horror at what Masood has done. The media anti-Muslim? Not so, sir. According to the BBC, Tony Blair is a hero and should be canonised for introducing immigration of many hundreds of thousands more people than he promised.

My own first experiences with the Muslim community were some 40 years ago in Chapeltown, Leeds. As a Conservative activist, it was easy to see the Labour Party taking the area for granted and we set our minds on political activity.

We immediately discovered that many residents had little English and we became the first branch in Leeds of any political party to have our election leaflets translated into three different languages. At this time a little Bangladeshi boy was knocked down by a car in Chapeltown and left brain-damaged.

Through our efforts in trying to raise money for the boy and erect a pedestrian crossing we got to know the community quite well. The strongest memory of that time is the ghetto atmosphere of the immigrants, mainly Muslim. Not adjusted to British life, not speaking English, not particularly wanting to learn English or to fit in. But definitely wanting their own way of life, their own dress code, their own place of worship. We had to use translators. This is not to denigrate those people and organisations today who devote themselves to immigrant areas in Britain. But do not let ourselves be deluded by apologists such as Dr Ali who do nothing with their biased pro-Muslim articles except encourage scepticism in the many British people who can see the problems caused by excessive immigration and – yes – that includes Muslims.

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Dr Ali has no moral or practical grounds for encouraging Bangladeshis and Pakistanis to remain separate and apart. For all our sakes, Dr Ali and his colleagues need to persuade their congregations that fitting in to British life is the only way forward – most British people will not fit into Bangladeshi or Pakistani life.

From: Nigel Boddy, Fife Road, Darlington.

THE events of last Wednesday at Westminster are both shocking and tragic, especially for the families of the victims and the injured. I send my sympathies and condolences to them all.

With the greatest respect, King William IV offered Buckingham Palace to Parliament as an alternative home after the fire of 1834 badly damaged Westminster.

If we must hang on to the idea of Parliament meeting in central London, then wouldn’t Buckingham Palace be a better place, simply from a security point of view? I would question the need, however, for Parliament to stay in London, the world’s greatest, busiest and most expensive city.

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Isn’t it time to hand over the Palace of Westminster to the National Trust or English Heritage and let them open the buildings to the public so they can raise the £3.5bn needed to restore the Palace?

From: Robert Hunter, Sandy Lane, Middlestown, Wakefield.

I HAVE just watched a BBC Look North report concerning a demonstration in Leeds staged in order to express dissent with the terrorist incident in London.

What really made me gasp though was a statement by one of the organisers that the murderer of beloved late MP Jo Cox was a Christian. This appalling statement went unchallenged by the BBC reporter.

Let’s get something straight, the murderer of Jo Cox was no more a Christian than the perpetrator of Wednesday’s atrocity was a Muslim.

Pipe down and pull together

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From: Paul Morley, Ribblesdale Estate, Long Preston, Skipton.

I AM getting heartily sick of whinging remainers campaigning for a second referendum. You lost, accept it.

Let’s face it, if we were to 
have another referendum 
and the remainers again lost, would they pipe down and 
accept it?

Of course not, they would want a third and a fourth, as many as it took to get the result they wanted. Will they be the same at the next general election?

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

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HOW I agree with Robin 
Walker’s views (The Yorkshire Post, March 26) on our EU exit negotiations.

We must work together 
to get the best deal for the 
whole of the UK. Tony Blair, John Major, Nick Clegg and the other “has been” politicians should keep their mouths shut or encourage Theresa May in all her efforts.

Hull in full

From: Arthur Quarmby, Mill Moor Road, Meltham.

I REALLY think that Hull should use part of its clout as 2017 City of Culture to restore its proper title of “Kingston upon Hull”.