Patrick Stewart was a passionate advocate for EU membership - let's take up his message: Yorkshire Post Letters

There’s no shortage of Yorkshire folk who’ve become distinguished writers and actors and foremost among them are national treasures Alan Bennett and Sir Patrick Stewart. The latter’s recent passing saddens those who valued the scale and scope of his art yet provides a fitting moment to reflect on his legacy and the immense joy he brought to those who appreciate the skill of an actor of Sir Patrick’s calibre.

Stewart apparently never sought political office, but he was a political person and strong in his opposition to Brexit. Shortly before the UK’s EU departure, Sir Patrick described the move as being “the saddest, grimmest thing.” Prior to the 2016 referendum the Mirfield-born actor had described Britain’s membership of the joint European project as “a triumph of convictions that the future must be one of worldwide co-operation and unity” with the UK “collaborating across Europe and learning the lessons of our own history.”

Sir Patrick would probably have agreed with author David Cornwell nine years his senior and better known as John le Carré who described Brexit as a “self-harming and irrational sleepwalk … breaking my heart.” As young adults both men saw the British Empire decline leaving a country fittingly described by former US Secretary of State Dean Acheson in 1962 as “not yet having found a role.” Both likely despaired of the psychological chains creating the UK’s reluctance ever fully to embrace the European project.

Whether our descendants eventually meet sentient life forms from other worlds the readers of this august publication will likely never know. If such beings exist, they won’t be the aliens of the Star Trek series. Those aliens couldn’t be more human if they tried given how exquisitely the series created by Gene Roddenberry has consistently used science fiction to develop characters having all the qualities, faults, traits and foibles of humanity.

I love the insight that Star Trek gives as to what it means to be human and no character does that better than Captain Picard. Two episodes stand out. Times Arrow with Whoppi Goldberg and The Inner Light which is for me possibly the best episode of any television series ever made. They’re the masterpieces which allowed Stewart fully to develop his character. A fictional captain in a future United Federation of Planets and an ardent enthusiast for the reality of a United Federation of European Nations.

It’s our challenge and the next generations boldly there to go.

Thomas W Jefferson, Batty Lane, Howden.

Peter Packham of Leeds for Europe persists with the fiction that a majority would vote to rejoin the EU (The Yorkshire Post, November 2). No, they wouldn’t, because the stark truths would emerge during a referendum campaign.

Rejoiners love to cherry-pick the opinion polls, quoting the headline numbers that suit them. Tucked away in the detail it emerges that if we couldn’t have our old opt-outs (the euro and Schengen) then support drops to about a third. That needs to double to achieve the “large and resilient” majority that the EU would need to see to believe we were serious. That’s the definition used in the “Heart of Europe 2036” report Peter Packham proudly trumpeted recently.

But no-one needs to waste time ploughing through that. Just read the admirably honest letter from Gareth Robson (The Yorkshire Post, October 31). He would be very happy to see the U.K. dismantled, deprived of autonomy and delivered to the EU on a plate, to be subsumed into their democracy stifling, growth sapping, utopian fantasy-land. Peter Packham agrees with him.

Martin J Phillips, Tinshill Lane, Leeds.

With all the talk by the Prime Minister and senior Labour politicians regarding rejoining the EU, it is quite obvious that the Labour is still out of touch with its own supporters. Labour lost three general elections by ignoring the views of Labour's grassroot support regarding the EU, yet here we are again being ignored and expected to accept that 'politicians know best'.

Andy Burnham seems to have lost sight of the fact that the areas where support for Brexit was the highest was in those wards normally regarded as safe Labour seats. If he truly believes that the only reason Brexit happened was due to Russian interference then he is alone in that belief. Nobody else is that stupid!

While Donald Trump is imposing high tariffs on goods from the EU, now would be a good time for the UK government to try to improve the existing Brexit deal. Countries in the EU need to find alternative export destinations for their products - hence their recent arrangement with Canada. The UK should exploit this situation and recreate a 'common market' for trade with EU countries. We don't need to rejoin an undemocratic political system to do this.