What does being an Island Nation have to do with our moral duty to help those in trouble? - Yorkshire Post Letters

Please could you explain why even The Yorkshire Post has succumbed to the tired old trope about Britain having a particular issue with immigration because we are "an island nation" (leading article, May 12).

Let's ignore the slightly inconvenient geographic details of Northern Ireland and our land border with the Republic of Ireland - but even disregarding those, what difference does it make to the immigration debate whether a state is an island?

Does being an island (loosely speaking) make Britain more short of land than other countries such as France? Of course not. France cannot just conveniently grab some extra space from Spain or Germany or Belgium or Italy. We're not impressed when Russia or Israel tries it, are we?

I am appalled that you use the "open borders" complaint. You know perfectly well, I'm sure, that most people entering Britain do so with visas for which they had to apply - undocumented entry to Britain is a small fraction of the total.

Britain and other developed countries are lifeboats for the many parts of our human family which are condemned otherwise to live on sinking ships. We have a moral duty to rescue as many people as possible. Or is this the true meaning of the "island nation" idea - "we've got a moat so let's use it to keep 'em out"? Charming.

I am comforted only by the fact that the announcement by the Prime Minister will yield very little change. Extending the residence qualification to ten years sounds tough but, thankfully, it's not - but it does condemn new British residents to an even longer wait before they can feel secure.

We have just commemorated the sacrifice of our ancestors in what really was a titanic struggle; too many moan nowadays about a mere inconvenience whereby we have to accommodate new arrivals (many of whom, as pointed out by some large trade unions today, are vital to the continued operation of the NHS as well as menial jobs throughout the economy).

Can we please demonstrate a little more of the wartime selflessness we have just celebrated?

Finally to the Labour Party, which I believe is currently our only hope of maintaining a just and decent society in the face of onslaughts from nastiness, please don't come out with any more of these supposedly Reform-neutralising announcements - leave the snarling to the right-wingers, keep Labour as a voice of kindness, born from homely traditions and fine words inspired by some of the methodist hymnists, "We are not divided, all one body we,

one in hope and doctrine, one in charity”.

No man is an island.