Letters | 15 September 2016

What immigration debate?

Sir: Henrik Jonsson says (Letters, 10 September) that Swedes ought to learn from the Brits how to maintain a broad and dynamic public debate. I can’t say I witnessed anything approximating public debate on the topic of immigration during the referendum, when the debate was carried out through the ballot box, not in reasonable parliamentary discussion. What we need is for more senior politicians to be willing to engage in public discourse and take a non-careerist approach. Too many leaders have thought it best to avoid this toxic issue rather than risk their positions. As Enoch Powell once described the typical politicians’ view on immigration, ‘It’s better for us to do nothing now and let it happen perhaps after our time.’
Benjamin Isaacson
London NW11

Psycho analysis

Sir: I thoroughly enjoyed Toby Young’s astute analysis of how the Labour MP Keith Vaz and the US politician Anthony Weiner appear to possess a ‘talent for psychopathy’ because they seem to lack a sense of shame or guilt (Status anxiety, 10 September).

It reminds me of when I worked for a newspaper whose weekly film columnist suddenly and without warning went AWOL on the day of publication, leaving me and other executives frantic and at the mercy of a furious editor. When his whereabouts — an upmarket Caribbean hotel — were finally discovered, it was too late and alternative material had to be quickly rustled up. His excuse was that he quite fancied a few days away in the sun and ‘forgot’ to mention it.

I rather fear Toby’s recollection of the incident will be a little hazier than my own. As he points out, the guilty are ‘unusually good at repressing unpleasant feelings’.
Grant Feller
London W4

Immovable mountain

Sir: Jeremy Norman asks: ‘Does the EU know and approve of the price that Mt Athos is paying in return for Russian money?’ (‘Mystery on Mount Athos’, 10 September).