LETTER: Britain should have vision for the world

While I’m no fan of the Church of England, I’m delighted that the Archbishop of Canterbury seems to have echoed my views in The Mail on Sunday (the UKIP hand-sheet) a week after my letter was published in the press.

Put simply he believes, as do I, that Britain should have a vision for the world – “a vision of peace and reconciliation of being builders of bridges, not barriers”.

Meanwhile, there is a certain local lunacy attached to Brexit statements that, I and others, are obliged to listen to and read. For instance on the bus last week I was advised by an elderly person in all sincerity that “Angela Merkel is Hitler’s daughter” and she promised me that is a fact.

Equally fantastic, by reading comments, I’m advised by another “well informed” Ukipper that the USSR gave permission for the people of east Germany to destroy the Berlin Wall and join the EU.

In my view, it is daft to pretend, preceding this momentous event, that the Hungarian Revolution, 1956 and the Prague Spring of 1968 had nothing to do with people’s subsequent desire for peace, prosperity and freedom within the EU.

In an even more bizarre letter, a correspondent has assured us that UK single nationhood was a prosperous time for all.

Sometimes, I wonder if my recollections of industrial chaos, the “Three Day Week”, the downfall of the Heath government (1970-1974) and the subsequent efforts of Labour Chancellor, Dennis Healey, who repeatedly went cap in hand with a begging bowl to the IMF for loans to keep all the public sectors going were a bad dream. So much for the “good old days”.

Economic policy dictated by IMF bailouts and foreign policy by the Americans.

If Brexit cannot be relied on for facts about the past why on earth should anyone trust them with their vision of the future?

In my opinion they have a one issue manifesto; immigration. In my view more is needed to allow us to reach the right decision for the future of the UK and the EU…

Finally, I’d like to get out more, but, right now, I’m compelled to spell out historical and economic facts to mis-informed Brexiteers.

With your permission, as an individual with no political affiliation, may I urge youngsters… vote for your future not their past.

David Turp
Pinchbeck