Ukraine: UK must ditch Brexit isolationism – Yorkshire Post Letters

AS we mark the anniversary of the death of former prime minister of Sweden, Olof Palme, who was murdered 36 years ago on February 28, 1986, in Stockholm, we need to reflect on his life’s work for world peace and global common security.

The cruel invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin follows the failure of the world community to ignore the lessons of Olof Palme who was critical of the West and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and insisted that threats to our planet from climate change, pandemics, poverty, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction, could only be solved through common security.

The UK needs to abandon its world isolation since its mistake of leaving the European Union, open its doors unconditionally to the brave people of Ukraine, always support the freedom of journalists and expand the BBC World Service, and show solidarity with the people of Russia who are not the same as the tyrant Vladimir Putin.

The only way forward for peace and the safety of our planet is to pursue common security and the advice of Olof Palme.

From; Ken Cooke, Ilkley.

I FIND it astonishing that Tony Galbraith whinges about the balance of trade with the EU (The Yorkshire Post, February 24).

He fails to recognise that the EU consists of 27 separate and sovereign countries and that not all of them will have a trade surplus with the UK. Some of them will have a negative balance of trade with the UK. So in his terms we are ‘ripping off’ those members – and they must be begging to leave the EU! Clearly not the case.

Having a negative trade balance with any partner is not necessarily a bad thing, as one could well have positive balances with other countries. Typical of Brexiters, Tony has a dismal grasp of international trade yet would like to advertise it by writing it on the side of a bus.

From: Justin Enthoven, Pateley Bridge.

NO doubt the Home Secretary and the Government praised, as we all did, the incredibly brave young people of Moscow who, on the evening of February 24, took to the streets to protest about the invasion of Ukraine only to be arrested and bundled roughly in to police vans.

But this comes when the Government is pushing through Parliament the Policing Bill aimed at greatly curtailing the right to protest. How typically hypocritical of this government who are also criticising Russian oligarchs while accepting their money as Tory party donations.

From: Terry Palmer, Hoyland.

A PRESS release in the names of Labour’s David Lammy, Rachel Reeves and Nick Thomas-Symmonds proposes that luxury goods should be banned from being sold to Russia.

I suppose these three think that banning Jaguar cars, Wedgewood crockery and chocolate truffles, which are on their list, will somehow make dictator and despot Vladimir Putin change his mind in continuing committing genocide in the Ukraine. Is that the best the Labour Party can come up with?

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