Jeremy Cliffe’s article reminds me of my experience working on the European mainland (“Britons don’t grasp the EU’s essential motivation – a quest for the quiet life”, Comment). Seen from the other side of the Channel, it was striking how differently world events were interpreted, significantly in France but also in the Low Countries and Germany. We British are still at fault after so many years of not understanding our neighbours. To send an ex-SAS man to negotiate a deal with the EU, appoint a clown as foreign secretary and a slightly lesser one as his successor tells us all we need to know.

Alan Townsend

Bladon, Oxfordshire



I’d like to congratulate Jeremy Cliffe on his brilliant analysis of European mentality. As a German expat family, we have experienced five amazing years in the UK – with a view to return to Germany this summer. His analysis is the first that I’ve come across in all those years precisely pinpointing “continental feelings” about Europe. In discussions with friends here in the UK, we have tried to explain the “German” motivation for Europe but seem to struggle to achieve real understanding. I would wholeheartedly recommend Cliffe’s analysis to all MPs and the government, as they try to find a resolution in the negotiations with Brussels in the critical weeks ahead.

Richard Pratt

Knowle, Solihull, West Midlands



Tragically, what the EU stands for – its core reason for existence – has been trampled on for decades and decades by the rightwing, populist, media of Britain (as well as the far-left, predominantly online media).

From the early 1990s, deceitful misinformation about the very DNA of the EU has been transferred to millions of readers’ brains, continually – and these untruths have, over time, spread rapidly. When people think of the EU, far too few think of the peaceful cooperation and co-existence between previously warring states, and far too many deem it to be somehow an infringement on Britain’s “sovereignty”; a foreign power, led by Germany, limiting our nation’s right to do as it pleases. Of course, the latter perspective is nonsense, but it is a commonly held nonsense, fantastically helped and assisted by the populist media.

Sebastian Monblat

Brighton

Immortal McIlvanney



Hugh McIlvanney (“A friend, a towering presence, and the greatest sports writer”, Focus) was a giant of sports journalism and his writing will live on. I shall never forget his report in the Observer of Celtic’s European Cup victory in May 1967. In reading his account of that momentous sporting event in Lisbon, I realised with a jolt that great writing and the reporting of a football match were not mutually exclusive. In his perceptive analysis of how 11 homegrown footballers from the west of Scotland had demolished the expensively assembled champions of Italy, McIlvanney highlighted the immeasurable contribution of Jock Stein, Celtic’s manager. Astutely, however, he quoted Bill Shankly, Liverpool’s manager, to have the final word on Stein’s achievement: “John, you’re immortal.”

Hugh, you’re immortal.

Mike Pender

Cardiff



It’s all about equality



While virtually everything Sophie Walker says about the state of democracy is true, I fear nothing she or the Women’s Equality Party have said will take us anywhere near to improving matters (“‘Democracy is broken’: feminist party leader tells why she quit”, News). Bringing in feminism, while understandable and with policies that are urgently needed, only adds another faction to the debates, making political life a battleground between different groups, each with their own agendas. The end result is that politics is becoming a series of endless, messy arguments on all fronts: just look at where the Brexit “debates” have taken us.

What is missing in politics, especially in Britain today, is any effort to improve equality: creating a society that gives all our citizens the best opportunities possible, plus the help needed to overcome natural inequities such as disabilities.

This then needs to be coupled with measures to control greed and, as just one simple step, ensuring that all workers are paid the same living wage. The latter move alone would be a major step forward, which simply shows how bad things are for millions of people: they work but are not paid even enough to live on, unless they have two or even three jobs.

David Reed,

London NW3



The horror of the Holocaust



It’s dreadful that so many Britons say the Holocaust did not happen (“One in 20 Britons say the Holocaust never happened, shock poll finds”, News). My late partner, who taught in a sixth-form college, encountered some rabid Holocaust denial. His response was to show the class Alain Resnais’s short, harrowing documentary, Night and Fog.

The students started off chattering, but quickly stopped. They watched in horrified silence and by the end of the film some were crying. A couple of the most vociferous deniers stayed after the class ended to shake his hand, thank him for showing the film and swear that in future they would tell anyone who tried to deny the Holocaust that it had really happened and that they’d seen the evidence.

Another aspect of increasing collective amnesia is that people often don’t know that, along with at least 6 million Jews, the Nazis murdered huge numbers of communists, socialists, trade unionists, gay people, Roma and disabled people. We should honour their memory too.

Karin Barry

London W10



It is disappointing that one-fifth of those surveyed about the Holocaust are unsure about the number of victims but, as a supply teacher who has worked in dozens of schools, I can assure your readers that the topic is not neglected in schools.

However, the presentation of the content in many history lessons is so boring (PowerPoint presentations, information copied into books) that students have little interest and are unlikely to recall a great deal. Sadly, a friend has been confronted by one slide boldly stating that Mary Tudor was a fanatical Protestant, and I have seen it written that Henry VII had six wives!

Frankly, that so few people know about the Holocaust does not surprise me. Why not try doing a survey about other hi storical details, for example Magna Carta (an ice-cream, surely?), Simon de Montfort, Richard III (had his own space in a car park), the Interregnum, the Reform Act… and you will probably find that knowledge of the Holocaust appears surprisingly good.

Name and address supplied



Common parlance?



The low quality of the man arriving at Covent Garden who was overheard to ask: “Which is it tonight then, darlin’, singin’ or dancin’?”, is emphasised, is it not, by his deplorable pronunciation (Letters)? Although to speak of “huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’” would, we are led to believe, indicate the opposite. Funny old world!

Eddie Dougall

Walsham le Willows, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk