Readers' letters - August 30

Islamic extremists are not the only terrorists
Jo CoxJo Cox
Jo Cox

When you think of the word ‘terrorism’, what usually comes to mind?

Many of us will see the image that the media creates of terrorism – Islamic extremists wearing balaclavas and holding guns.

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We will think of deadly attacks such as the Manchester Arena bombing and the Westminster attack that seem to have become common occurrences in recent years, not just in the UK, but all over the world. But is there more to terrorism than we think?

According to the Terrorism Act of 2000 in the UK, terrorism is an act which is meant to ‘influence the government’ or ‘intimidate the public’ in order to advance a ‘political, religious, racial or ideological cause’.

However, not every case is as black or white, such as the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in June 2016. Cox was brutally killed by 52-year-old Thomas Mair, who also stabbed a 77-year-old local man who tried to defend her.

Mair had links to the neo-Nazi movement and reportedly shouted “Britain First” whilst carrying out the attack.

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Arguably this should have been classified as a terrorist attack, as members of the public were threatened and there was a political motive. However, whilst Mair was charged with murder and other offences, none of these were terror-related.

It appears that Brits are being made to believe that the threat of terrorism only comes from certain branches of society and the political spectrum.

However, we can see from the murder of Jo Cox, as well as the recent events in Charlottesville – in which a Neo-Nazi purposefully rammed his car into anti-racist protesters – that terrorists are not limited to Islamic extremists.

Extending our understanding of terrorism to include attacks like these is key to comprehending the growing tension in the UK and bettering ourselves to tackle the issue.

Gemma Brown

Address supplied

Make Britain great again

I never wanted to join the EU when Ted Heath took us in.

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When Harold Wilson gave us the vote, I voted to come out due to the ‘milk lakes’ and ‘beef mountains’ drying up. My many friends voted to stay in for fear of their jobs in local factories, not many left, despite their votes.

The Channel Tunnel has been a target for illegal immigrants, even though we were told ‘not even a fly could get through’. Of course our money had to change to decimal, a rip-off due to everything before being much better.

Then we had to go metric.

I still ask for feet and inches and stones and pounds.

I don’t understand litres, so ask for a pint of milk or half-a-dozen eggs.

A farmer was on TV to say a directive from the EU was not to dredge rivers or streams to remove silt, so every time it rained heavily his fields flooded.

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A fisherman told us they could not fish in EU waters but they could come here to fish, so slowly their livelihoods have disappeared.

Since Brexit I understand this has been stopped.

I voted for Brexit. I just wish they would get on with it because it is getting blamed for everything, and nothing has happened yet.

Let us get back to how it was before the EU. We had decent hospitals and roads fit to drive on. Make Britain great again, instead of our millions going to the EU.

Mrs G Lancaster

via email

Go foraging

for vitamin C

To all those people struggling to feed their families and concerned about their kids getting enough vitamin C: go blackberrying! Am I the only forager left? For about 80p, plus some cheap ice cream topping, you can get four servings of delicious blackberry crumble. Bake a batch and freeze them. Or just put some blackberries on your cereal – cost nil. Get yourself out there, take the dog, and get some fresh air into the bargain.

Carol Lee

Address supplied

Wildlife matters

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Re: Human population (WP Letters, August 25). Barry Conway tells us there is no problem with a rising human population – this is our future workforce, he says.

Great for our economy but what about the environment and wildlife? Or is it only humans who matter?

Jane via email

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