Harriet Hall has so obviously missed the real message of Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscars acceptance speech: that all oppression is wrong, regardless of the race, gender, age, nationality, or species of the victims.

Dr Martin Luther King Jr famously said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” It’s this guiding principle that led Phoenix to use his voice to speak out against injustice as he sees it and to advocate extending our compassion to all victims of violence – including anguished cows whose beloved babies are torn away from them so that humans can consume the milk meant for their calves, as well as other victims of animal agriculture.

No one has the right to exploit or victimise others on the basis of subjectively perceived differences, and we applaud Phoenix for using his moment in the spotlight to shine a light on the suffering of others with an appeal to humanity’s best quality: our compassion.

Elisa Allen, director, Peta Foundation

Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Show all 21 1 /21 Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Actor Rami Malek accepts the Actor in a Leading Role award for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Actress Olivia Colman accepts the Actress in a Leading Role award for 'The Favourite' onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Film Oscars Show - Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., February 24, 2019. Peter Farrelly accepts the Best Picture award for "Green Book." Reuters Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Cinematography winner for "Roma" Alfonso Cuaron poses in the press room with his Oscars during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on February 24, 2019 AFP/Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Original Screenplay Best Original Screenplay nominees for "Green Book" Nick Vallelonga (R), Brian Currie (L), Peter Farrelly (C)accept the award for Best Original Screenplay for during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California AFP/Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Actress in a Supporting Role Regina King with her best supporting actress Oscar for If Beale Street Could Talk in the press room at the 91st Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA PA Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Actor in a Supporting Role Best Actor in a Supporting Role winner Mahershala Ali poses backstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California AMPAS/Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Original Score Best Original Score nominee for "Black Panther" composer Ludwig Goransson accepts the award for Best Original Score during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on February 24, 2019 AFP/Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Original Song Lady Gaga poses with the Music (Original Song) award for 'Shallow' from 'A Star Is Born' backstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California AMPAS/Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz , Kevin Willmott and Charlie Wachtel accept the Best Adapted Screenplay award for "BlacKkKlansman" onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Live Action Short Guy Nattiv (L) and Jaime Ray Newman winners of the Short Film (Live Action) Award for 'Skin' pose in the press room during the 91st annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, USA, 24 February 2019 ETIENNE LAURENT EPA Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Visual Effects Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, J. D. Schwalm and Tristan Myles accept the Best Visual Effects award for "First Man" onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California. Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Documentary Short Melissa Berton (center L) and Rayka Zehtabchi (center R) accept the Documentary (Short Subject) award for 'Period. End of Sentence.' onstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California. Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Animated Short Becky Neiman-Cobb (left) and Domee She with the award for best short film (animated) for Bao in the press room at the 91st Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles PA Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Sound Editing Nina Hartstone and John Warhurst with the award for Best Sound Editing for Bohemian Rhapsody in the press room at the 91st Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles PA Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Sound Mixing Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali with the award for best Sound Mixing for Bohemian Rhapsody in the press room at the 91st Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles PA Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Production Design Jay Hart and Hannah Beachler with the award for best production design for Black Panther in the press room at the 91st Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles PA Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Costume Design Ruth Carter with the award for Best Costume Design for Black Panther in the press room at the 91st Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood PA Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Makeup and Hairstyling Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney with the award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for Vice in the press room at the 91st Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, PA Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature Free Solo filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi pose with awards backstage during the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on February 24, 2019 in Hollywood, California AMPAS/Getty Oscars 2019: all the winners from the Academy Awards Best Animated Feature Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller with their Oscars for best animated feature film for Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse in the press room at the 91st Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles PA

The north remembers

We in the north should be wary of Boris Johnson’s announcement that, whilst the first leg of HS2 will go ahead, the second from Crewe to Manchester and Leeds is under yet another review.

When the Channel Tunnel was first announced in the 1980s, parliamentary support was only forthcoming because an essential part of the proposals was a plan to operate high-speed rail services through it on both sides of the English Channel, enabling passengers to get on a train in Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff or Plymouth and get off in Paris.

A depot for the regional Eurostar services was actually constructed at Longsight in Manchester with a large Eurostar-branded sign attached to the outside that proclaimed to passing train passengers, “le Eurostar habite ici” (French for “the Eurostar lives here”).

As we all know, the plan was never completed and a parliamentary committee declared in 1999 that “the regions have been cheated”.

Colin Burke

Manchester

The real tragedy of Delhi’s recent elections

Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has comprehensively trounced the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Narendra Modi, in the assembly elections in Delhi, by winning 62 of the 70 seats, a thumping 90 per cent. This has significant ramifications for the future of India.

In doing so, the people have also rejected the divisive and fractured politics of the ruling BJP party, based on religious considerations.

Modi, the prime minister, should counsel his party members to cease indulging in religious politics and whipping up unnecessary frenzy over emotional issues. His own image will get tarnished if his party members do not uphold high standards in their debates and demeanour. The Indian economy is in the doldrums and should be the top priority.

The Congress Party, which had administered the capital city for 15 years, did not win a single seat. Unless the Congress reinvents itself and becomes more relevant, the party once led by national leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi will become irrelevant and face extinction. Rahul Gandhi, the current face of the party, should pick up the gauntlet, roll up his sleeves and work on the ground to resolve the problems of the common people. Tweets give a leader currency, but they do not win elections. However, resolving the sanitation, drinking water, electricity and unemployment issues of ordinary people can win elections.

Rajendra Aneja

Mumbai, India

BBC interview styles

The BBC should look at itself. Over recent years, it appears to have appointed presenters with a particularly aggressive style of interviewing, where the presenter adopts the role of the opposition, regardless of who is being interviewed.

Most notable among this group are Andrew Neil, Jeremy Paxman, John Humphrys and Emma Barnett. The result is everyone thinks of them as being biased and would prefer to avoid them.

A style that is focused on open questions to both parties and fewer interruptions would leave the listener to decide for themselves which side had the better case and possibly lead to a greater willingness by politicians to participate.

Geoffrey Keeys

Ford

Labour needs a clean break with the past

On the 12 December, the nation spoke. Any election always brings winners and losers; but this was no ordinary election, no ordinary loss. This crushing defeat for both Labour and their leader will go down in the history books as their worst defeat in over 80 years!

The leader can blame nothing and nobody else for the scale of his loss. Analysis shows it was entirely his personality, policies and ideologies that were to blame.

Any half respectable politician would have stood down in humiliation, but not Jeremy Corbyn. Here we are two whole months later and he is still hanging around with the sole purpose of trying to influence the party leadership campaign to ensure the continuation of his ideology.

For the Labour Party to survive and once again become a credible opposition, they have to make a break with this sad era. A clean break.

When the nation speaks, listen!

M Fishwick​

Sutton Coldfield

England’s forests need protecting too

I wonder how many of those people complaining about the burning of the Amazon rainforest, which indeed is a tragedy, also support HS2 and the destruction of vast swathes of English countryside, including ancient woodland, which is also a tragedy.

Bad news keeps piling up.