Section:GDN 1J PaGe:6 Edition Date:190803 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 2/8/2019 17:44 cYanmaGentaYellowblac
- The Guardian Sat urday 3 Aug ust 2019
6 Letters
I was surprised to be informed by
Martin Kettle that my homeland
might be minded to depart the
union (the British one) ( How
Johnson’s Brexit could tear the
United Kingdom apart , 1 August).
The litany of Brexit-related
harms, risks and plagues that has
been compiled since the beginning
of the EU membership referendum
campaign is, of course, long and
varied, but of the items on that
litany, Welsh independence is one
of the more extraterrestrial ideas.
For the avoidance of doubt,
Wales is fi rmly attached to the
union. The notion that it might
break away as a consequence of
Brexit and Boris Johnson is faintly
absurd. A majority in Wales voted
in favour of Brexit in 2016. In the
recent European election, Plaid
Cymru – the party that would
presumably deliver a grateful
nation from its servitude – won
19.6% of the vote. The Brexit partyIreland, Brexit and the
search for a way forward
Where Wales stands in the world
Owen Jones ( No one should have
to pay to pee , 2 August) confuses
two issues : the provision of toilets
and their cost, especially given that
“ spend a penny” has its origins in
the concept of paying to pee.
It is, however, the need for toilets
that can be used that truly matters.
This issue is not limited to the UK,
as it is very much a problem in the
Netherlands, too.
Having had surgery and
radiotherapy that has aff ected my
bladder, I am someone who plans
going out around the availability
of adequate access to toilets. This
becomes a particularly complex
matter when going on holiday. I was
therefore pleased to learn about a
German system called nette toilette.
A number of German towns
and local authorities have worked
out that it is much cheaper to get
someone else to provide toilets than
to have to fund their construction,Let’s learn from the
Germans about loos
Away w it h
the fairies
‘This variegated
fairywren had
just woken up
and, having
fl own to the
tree stump, he
enjoyed the
warm morning
sun in a peaceful
corner of
bushland. Taken
at Margaret
River, Western
Australia’
LAURENCE ALAN
JACKSON/GUARDIAN
COMMUNITY
Share your
photographs
at gu.com/
letters-picsthe UK insisted, under pressure
from the DUP.
If the freely negotiated backstop
is to be regarded as undemocratic,
and must be removed, what are
we to make of the elevation of
Boris Johnson to prime minister
with the support of about 0.2% of
the UK electorate?
Mike Pender
Cardiff- Much is being made of the
backstop and “ people’s vote”. I have
one simple solution to both. Given
that 55% of the people in Northern
Ireland voted remain in the 2016
“once in a generation” referendum,
an exception to that government
assertion could be made for them
alone, with another referendum
and a clear binary question: “Do
you wish to remain in the EU or do
you wish to remain in the UK”? The
two, we are constantly told, are
mutually exclusive, so this decision
has to be made sometime. Given
that all the predicted problems
associated with the backstop
(many artifi cially manufactured by
those intent on preventing Brexit
of course) will mostly aff ect the
1.88 million inhabitants of that
province, does this not seem a fair
and ( we hope) fi nal way of killing
those two challenging political birds
with one stone?
Then the rest of the leave -voting
majority in the UK can perhaps
fi nally see the delivery of what we
voted for over three years ago and
can get on with the rest of our lives,
unencumbered by the tiresome and
a trade deal could be negotiated,
the price of Welsh lamb would be
increased by the long-distance costs
of refrigerated transit. Not to mention
the eff ects on global warming.
Gloria Brown
Llaneglwys, Powys- Alun Cairns, the secretary of state
for Wales, claimed UK farmers could
export their meat to Japan instead
of Europe in the event of a no -deal
Brexit. The sheer incredulity of this
statement epitomises the lack of
understanding of a no-deal solution.
The extra cost of shipping to
Japan will be huge and totally
illogical when our prime markets
are a short distance from Dover, and
many major EU cities are within only
a few hours’ distribution, covering
100 million -plus customers.
It puzzles me that we can so
readily ignore our EU customers and
the impact it has on UK economy, the
jobs in the supply and distribution
chain and on the livelihood of many
in the farming industry.
John Kelly
Liverpool
Guy Verhofstadt ( Opinion , 1 August)
says: “Attempts to put pressure
on Ireland will only be met with
waves of solidarity from the rest
of the EU.” He could add that that
solidarity will include the political
leadership of the US. The Irish
American constituency is a strong
one, recognised by both Democrats
and Republicans, and the US’s
involvement in the Good Friday
agreement makes it a live issue there.
Add to that the prospect of a
US –UK deal that opens the door
for US medical insurance and the
Democrats would love to see a
lobby that did so much to harm
Clinton and Obama defeated.
Boris Johnson has brought
unity – the unity of Washington
and Brussels against us.
Mary Pimm and Nik Wood
London- Ministers have evidently been
instructed to parrot at every
opportunity that the Irish backstop
is “undemocratic” and must be
scrapped as a precondition for
further talks with the EU. Polly
Toynbee rightly dismisses this
approach as a nonsense ( Johnson’s
crew will repel voters – there’s no
need to fear him , 30 July).
Johnson and his cabinet seem to
be unaware that the fi nal version
of the backstop in the withdrawal
agreement is not an EU invention
imposed on this country. The
original version, agreed between
the EU and the UK, only aff ected
Northern Ireland. It was changed
to cover the UK as a whole because
won 32.5%. If there is a silent majority
in Wales in favour of simultaneous
secession from the union with the
Saeson and perpetuation of the
one with the European project, its
silence is deafening. Measurable
support for Welsh independence
has never been more than anaemic.
Dafydd Elis-Thomas, the veteran
Plaid Cymru politician, once
described the prospect as a mirage.
It has always been so, and is highly
likely to remain so.
Deri Hughes
London- I hope Welsh farmers were
reassured by the government’s
assertions that they will be able to
off set a “no deal” loss of trade with
new markets like Japan ( Sheep
farmers left in dark over how they
can avoid no-deal catastrophe , 13
July). Have they forgotten that Japan
has New Zealand on its doorstep?
A part from any tariff s, whenever
incessant debate over these two
apparently insurmountable issues.
Geoff rey Lazell
Bressingham, Norfolk- Guy Verhofstadt says EU unity will
not be broken by intimidation. Over
hundreds of years the English have
treated the Irish with disdain. And
although we may have forgotten the
million people who died of famine in
the 1840 s uncared for by the English
landowners, the Irish have not. The
roots of the Troubles were fi rmly
set in the failure of Westminster to
address religious discrimination and
trying to appease Ulster Protestants.
And now, to appease their English
and Ulster Protestant supporters,
the Tories are trying to get the EU to
dump Ireland and the Good Friday
agreement. If the Troubles return to
Belfast or London it won’t be hard to
understand why.
John Beer
Farnham, Surrey - I come from Derry and I grew
up through the Troubles. I have
seen buildings explode and debris
fl y through the air. I have seen
my friends lying in their coffi ns
having died violent deaths and
the uncomprehending grief on the
faces of the brothers and sisters, the
mums and dads. I never want to see
such things again.
The Good Friday agreement
has ensured relative peace and
normality on the island of Ireland
for 20 years. The people of Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
voted overwhelmingly for it in
separate referend ums. We must
not allow the brutish right wing
government in Westminster,
supported by the DUP, to destroy
what has been achieved in Ireland
( Johnson sets UK on collision course
with EU over backstop , 27 July).
Whether it is abortion , gay rights or
Brexit, the DUP is no longer in step
with the people of Northern Ireland.
It is ironic that the interests of the
people of Northern Ireland are now
best served by a Dublin government
led by Leo Varadkar.
The frictionless border and the
Good Friday agreement must be
supported and sustained whatever
the outcome of Brexit.
Daniel Taylor
Brighton- Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald
said this week that Johnson needed
to stop being “the DUP’s gofer” ( Sinn
Féin warns Johnson: change is in the
air , 1 August). The only reason that
the Tory–DUP alliance has a majority
of one is that Sinn Féin’s seven
MPs refuse to take up their seats in
parliament. I understand the Féin
abstentionist pledge , but surely Sinn
Féin cannot stick to this position and
at the same time campaign against
a no -deal Brexit and against a hard
border. Such illogicality is the sort of
stuff we expect from Johnson. Why
is Sinn Féin being given such an easy
ride on this in Ireland and in the UK?
The facts have changed since the last
election in 2017. Sinn Féin should
take up its Westminster seats for the
specifi c purpose of voting down a
no -deal Brexit and a hard border for
the good of all the people of Ireland.
John Birtill
Guisborough, North Yorkshire
operation and maintenance
themselves. A council thus pays
shops, cafes, etc that have toilets if
they make them available to people
who are not customers.
I am also glad of another
toilet-related development that you
fi nd more and more on this side of
the Channel, namely the ability to
pay at the turnstile of the WCs in
stations and motorway services by
using your bank card.
John Morris
The Hague, Netherlands- Exeter city council – marketing
mantra: “Live Better” – has just
closed 15 of its 26 public toilets. The
endless sloganeering and vacuous
manifesto-speak (“We want the
narrative to be owned by individuals
and organisations committed to
playing a full part in the promotion
of the city”) take no account of
the real and sometimes pressing
needs so well described by Owen
Jones. The “narrative” is selective.
Those who protested were ignored.
Peter Kaan
Exeter
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letters-termsWe must not allow the
brutish government
in Westminster to
destroy what has been
achieved in IrelandDaniel TaylorРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS