Our readers from across the county give their weekly take on the biggest issues impacting Kent in their letters to the editor...

Some letters refer to past correspondence which can be found by clicking here.

We must have a humane asylum system

Christopher Hudson-Gool desperately tries to claim that a majority of UK people oppose migration but it varies over time and, at the moment, about the same are for as against. The biggest current difference is, understandably, the small boat crossings.

However, does he really think people would make such crossings, either over the Channel or Mediterranean, paying the despicable smugglers, if they had clearly set-up safe-routes to follow?

Overall, the numbers of refugees are actually lower than they were 20 years ago, and the reason why so many are in hotels, etc, is due to the government's cuts to the numbers of experienced staff processing claims the majority of which, other than Albanian, are granted.

YouGov shows that, in the year from July 2021 to June 2022, the most asylum claims came from Iran (11,824), then Iraq (9,150) and only then Albania at (7,743). The Albanians may have overtaken since then (to over 13,000) citing Albanian conditions of corruption, low salaries, poor working conditions and a low quality of life as their main reasons, but most actually apply to France.

In the UK and in general, 53% of claims by Albanians are accepted. Most are by women and children. Some of the men though have been referred to the modern slavery unit for investigation of such, whilst generally most are returned.

As for migration in general, the CBI supports it, though of course it helps keep wages down. This has to be opposed, as jobs should go to the persons best suited and all should have a decent living income. It is also not the fault of refugees, migrants, nor those on low incomes here for the state of our economy and lack of council housing, but decades of underinvestment and 13 years of Tory austerity.

Plus, Brexit can be added to the problem because we've had a hit to our economy with businesses suffering and, as we've just seen, holidaymakers stuck at Dover due to French border checks. Returning to the single market and customs union would better alleviate such than staying completely out.

Lastly, Mr Hudson-Gool assumes I vote Labour. I may at local level but for a long time now I vote Green at national, though would far prefer a PR voting system. I maintain only a change of government will see if we can change to a humane asylum system.

Ray Duff

Migration bill is a new low

A punitive and inhumane Illegal Migration Bill - that will create significant obstacles, penalties and harms to people seeking asylum in the UK - is being rushed through Parliament at lightning speed.

The Bill represents a shocking new low that will fundamentally undermine the UK’s asylum system and damage refugee rights globally in three specific ways.

First, it breaks the UK’s legal obligations under international law. Seeking asylum is a vital human right, not something that can be banned or withdrawn for political convenience.

Second, it is a charter for human exploitation. People caught by this Bill will be excluded from the UK’s modern slavery protections and even its basic human rights law.

Third, it stirs up conflict and targets some of the most marginalised people in our society, condemning them to months or even years of social isolation, deprivation and detention. The proposals in the Bill are inhumane and seek to provoke further hatred.

We need a properly controlled asylum system that discourages people from attempting dangerous journeys and takes power away from people traffickers. But this Bill is not the way to achieve it and will not even work.

Our members are therefore urging MPs across Kent to raise these concerns with the Prime Minister as a matter of priority and urge him to reverse the current cruel and dehumanising anti-refugee attitude within the Home Office.

Graham Minter

Amnesty International Kent Network

Ignorant to just condemn the British Empire

More organisations seem to be jumping on the bandwagon of those determined to demonise our history, in particular that of the British Empire, removing anything which they claim is supportive of slavery, or oppression.

It doesn’t matter to them that this is based upon a total misreading of the past, and they pretend that somehow the Empire was uniquely evil, ignoring both the good it did, and the comparable history of other empires which have come and gone throughout time.

Of course slavery was, and is, an unqualified evil, but this has been a feature of most nations over centuries, the Greek and Roman empires in antiquity, the ubiquitous slave trading in Arab nations for centuries, and the treatment of enslaved people by the Nazi and Soviet empires in living memory being examples.

What is constantly ignored by those attacking our record is that we actually took action, losing thousands of men in the fight to drive the slave traders from the seas, and liberating many of the peoples they were exploiting.

While the Roman and Nazi Empires were overtly intent on conquering other nations, as Sir John Seeley, the Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge from 1869 to 1895, once remarked “We seem, as it were, to have conquered and peopled half the world in a fit of absence of mind”. In fact the absorption of several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, was partly due to the need to put and end to inland slave trading, and not a lust for territory. Indeed, when the Ottoman Empire offered Gladstone the exclusive control and administration of Egypt, he refused, as the British did not wish to take on the burden of administering another large territory, although circumstances eventually did result in the country becoming part of the Empire. The fact that India also became part was initially driven by trade, and the East India Company, not some unworthy desire for power over others.

If the Empire was so bad, why did a large numbers of previous colonies choose to become part of the Commonwealth, an organisation now joined by some countries, such as Rwanda, Mozambique, Gabon and Togo, who were never part of the Empire?

Those who think that they are virtue signalling are in fact merely displaying their ignorance, and distorting the past in a way that George Orwell recognised as being a distinguishing feature of authoritarians everywhere.

Colin Bullen

Conflicted views on horse racing

In writing this letter I must seem like a two-faced, mixed-up hypocrite.

I would just like to say that I half agree with Fiona Pereira, campaign manager of Animal Aid on the cruel sport of jump horse racing. I must admit, I did not know the sad amount of horses that have been destroyed at Cheltenham festival since 2000, on the other hand I am not surprised.

Now this is where the readers are going to hate me. I have been a gambler since I was about 11 years old; I would get a lady along the road to put my bets on for me until I was 18, all with my mum's approval.

I like to try adn win money to spend on my grandchildren as I am now 65 and shortly we have the Grand National coming up on April 15 and, of course, I will have a bet.

I just hope and pray there aren't any casualties.

But all in all the Grand National is probably the greatest but also most cruel race on earth. I think if it was put to the vote I would vote for the Grand National to be banned and also I can't wait for the flat racing to start because I seem to have more luck on the flat.

Ian Bruce Walkling

Farmers must follow the money

Oh I do love the power of free speech and the ability to have a good old fashioned rant in the local paper ['Less wine, more homegrown fruit', Letters, March 30].

As a semi-retired ex fruit grower (yes vineyard, yes apples and pears, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc, etc), I agree entirely that we need more diversity in fruit growing and yes let's debate what is going on in our countryside - its good to rant!

What breaks my heart though is how brutal the economic conditions are out there.

Given free reign and minimal social and environmental support; growers and farmers will follow the market and grow where the money is (if any). They gave up wearing rose-tinted glasses a long time ago.

Mark Mount

Lost sense of community

Reading the latest letter page led me to realise what a mixed bag we correspondents are. Even within individual letters a range of views can be expressed.

Sadly, much of the correspondence reflects the state of politics in Britain which is at its lowest ebb.

We have all become more individualist and the sense of community and solidarity, that was once the feature of social life, has been lost.

This has led to attacks on immigrants when we need more labour; irresponsible parking with scant regard to other road users; complaints against ‘wokism’ whatever that may mean; confusion over what schools and education in general is all about; blaming the National Highways for not removing litter that others have thrown out; and an undue attention to limited issues when there are much greater causes of oppression.

We all need to step back and consider what is really important in our lives.

In doing so we would find that we have far more in common that we are led to believe.

We would see that communal provision provides everyone with benefits.

We would discover that competition and self interest are destructive of human happiness.

Rather than condemning what is described as ‘left wing propaganda’ we would find that the true aims of socialism brings together all those sectional and diverse religious concerns into a united programme which might just save humanity from the dire consequences of nuclear war and climate catastrophe.

Ralph A. Tebbutt

Football sets a poor example

I enjoy watching on television the Premier League football. However, I have become deeply concerned by the poor behaviour not only of the players but also the managers.

I recently wrote (three times) to the Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta after watching the game against Newcastle, where the referee was surrounded by players on several occasions and in the last minute when Mikel went crazy when he wanted a penalty for handball. If the same incident had happened in the Arsenal penalty box resulting in a penalty, then Mikel would have been incandescent with rage, you cannot have it both ways.

The gist of my letter was that footballers appearing on television are icons to many children and young adults. I am an ex-County football referee. A referee rarely changes his mind, so why protest? Get back in position, form a wall and defend the free kick. Instead, we see players disagreeing with virtually every decision against them.

Football has the opportunity with such exposure to lead the way and influence behaviour in society. By respecting and accepting the laws of the game. The poor example we witness at the top of the game has now resulted in referees at grass roots level now being fitted with body cameras because every week a number of referees are physically assaulted.

What are we coming to? Without referees there would be no professional or amateur game to watch or to play. We should be applauding referees not abusing them. The Football Association needs to recognise its responsibility to society at large and to get a grip on poor behaviour.

Graham Sutherland