When almost 200 groups condemn the consultation on the new asylum policy as “vague, unworkable, cruel and potentially unlawful” , some governments might be minded to think again (‘Sham’: 200 groups criticise UK government consultation on refugee policy, 30 April). The home secretary’s lack of compassion, if not to say downright cruelty, knows no bounds. The German Jewish artist and writer Fred Uhlman, who arrived here in the 1930s and was later interned, wrote in his autobiography: “If tolerance, kindness, political maturity and fairness are the touchstones of civilisation, Great Britain is the most civilised nation on Earth.” Sadly, the days are long gone when these words held true. My shame at having to acknowledge that I am British grows by the day.
Ruth Windle
Frome, Somerset
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