Suzanne Moore (This Trump petition shows UK citizens will not bend a knee to hate, theguardian.com, 30 January) states that “the British state reserves its pomp and pageantry for those with shared values. To do this for Trump is not simply appeasing, but legitimising his regime. This is not just embarrassing for the Queen but for every decent citizen.” I suspect many “decent citizens” might have had a problem with repeated “legitimising” of the Saudi and other Arab monarchies, or the Chinese Stalinist dictatorship, or of Ceaușescu’s Romania. I suggest the Queen can put up with much worse than a democratically elected president, regardless of how odious he is.

Matthew Heaney

Frankfurt am Main, Germany

• What utter hypocrisy those who signed the petition to ban President Trump making a state visit to the UK display (May feels heat over US travel ban, 30 January). All he has done is temporarily ban visitors from certain countries to the US. Would any of those signatories express the same sentiments to the approximately 16 countries that forbid entry to any Israeli passport holder, or those countries that go the extra mile and forbid entry to anybody who has visited Israel as shown on their passport? What could be more racist than that?

Peter Simpson

London

This Trump petition shows UK citizens will not bend a knee to hate | Suzanne Moore Read more

• Jeremy Corbyn and a million petitioners question the state visit later this year of President Trump. Were they all as vociferous in the lead-up to the 2015 state visit by the president of China – a country where human rights abuses are in excess of anything Mr Trump could imagine?

Edward Thomas

Eastbourne, East Sussex

• The Green party spokespeople may well be mortified that Theresa May shook hands with President Trump (Letters, 30 January). Many of us are equally disturbed at her meeting and fixing arms deals with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey (May signs £100m fighter jet deal with Turkey as a starter for bilateral trade, The Observer, 29 January). This human rights abuser is brutally oppressing the Kurds, has imprisoned journalists, academics, those expressing any opposition to his regime and closed down TV stations and newspapers. Supporting him is bad enough, but to be selling him arms is totally unacceptable.

Rae Street

Littleborough, Lancashire

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