Readers respond to Sir Keir Starmer’s speech on immigration

Re Keir Starmer’s speech this week ( Starmer accused of echoing far right with ‘island of strangers’ speech, 12 May ), my father-in-law came to the UK as a refugee in 1979, with his wife and eight children. Forty-six years later, he speaks almost no English. He reads Chinese newspapers and watches Chinese television stations. Every four years he screams “ Jia you! ” (“Go for it!”) at Chinese athletes competing in the Olympics.

From the sitting room of a council house in Thamesmead, the family started a food business that now employs 18 people, including three of the eight children. The other kids went to grammar school and became lawyers, accountants, bankers and pharmaceutical reps. My father-in-law votes Conservative. He reveres Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister who (reluctantly, as it turned out) agreed to take in his family and 10,000 other boat people. He eats roast beef at our house on a Sunday (albeit with chopsticks, and chilli sauce instead of horseradish).

Dr Charis Bridger Staatz says environmental forces have the biggest impact on low-income households

Zoe Williams calls the debate on obesity “toxic” ( 13 May ), but hits the nail on the head by saying that even scientists with opposing views are united by the same goal of helping people live long and healthy lives. The crux of the problem is that obesity is incredibly complex. It’s influenced by people’s local environments and their socioeconomic circumstances, alongside genetics.

Increases in obesity have largely emerged over the past century, coinciding with major environmental changes, particularly since the 1980s. We see this when observing successive generations taking part in the UK’s birth cohorts . Early in the 20th century, childhood obesity was largely nonexistent, but for cohorts born after the 1980s , the likelihood of being overweight or obese at age 10 was two to three times higher than those born before. Similar patterns are seen in adults – the later in the 20th century you were born, the more likely you were to become overweight, and at younger ages.

The Solution | Thames Water bonuses | Ofwat fines | Football shirts

The question posed by Andy Beckett ( What if one key problem with British politics at the moment is us – the voters?, theguardian.com, 16 May ) was answered with sharp irony by Bertolt Brecht in his poem Die Lösung (The Solution): “Would it not in that case / Be simpler for the government / To dissolve the people / And elect another?”
Derrick Cameron
Stoke-on-Trent

• Thames Water’s chair, Sir Adrian Montague, argues for bonuses up to 50% of senior managers’ salaries, because they are its “most precious resource” ( Report, 15 May ). Some of us would say that water is their most precious resource, and should not be in the hands of rule-breaking, profit-seeking entrepeneurs.
Susan Treagus
Manchester

Rather than tweak the offside rule, as discussed in an article by Max Rushden, why not scrap offside altogether, writes Paul Gregson . Plus, a letter by Joe McNamee

A simple solution to the points raised by Max Rushden ( Wenger wants to fix VAR offsides but broken handball rule is the real problem, 8 May ) would be to abolish offside altogether. It adds absolutely nothing to the sport, and only creates frustrations and endless video assistant referee (VAR) delays. While on the subject of law changes in professional football, why stop the match to make a substitution (with the exception of goalkeepers)? There is a fourth official controlling the change who can ensure that the substitute does not enter the field of play until the player being replaced has left it. Both these changes would improve the sport no end.
Paul Gregson
Barcelona, Spain

• In race walking, the rule for referees is that the infringement has to be visible to the human eye. Instead of torturing ourselves endlessly with the expensive tech solutionism of VAR, we rely instead on human sight and common sense.
Joe McNamee
Brussels, Belgium

Lawyers hired by Venezuela have been unable to confirm ‘proof of life’ for 252 migrants imprisoned in El Salvador

Lawyers for 252 Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration and imprisoned in El Salvador for two months have alleged that the migrants are victims of physical and emotional “torture”.

A law firm hired by the Venezuelan government said that it had been unable to visit the migrants in the mega-prison where they are locked up.

Chancellor tells Guardian that UK will retain red lines such as no free movement but ‘there will be future areas where we can do more’

The UK-EU summit on Monday is a “step towards” a deeper and ongoing partnership with Europe, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said, saying any deal struck next week will not be a “one off.”

In an interview with the Guardian, Reeves suggested the government was looking for closer ties with Europe beyond what was on the table this coming Monday, adding: “There will be future areas in which we can do more.”

Planning to get outside this weekend? From tinned drinks and garden games to the perfect shades, here’s all you need for the sunny days ahead

• The best garden furniture for every occasion

We know better than to take good weather for granted, especially with a weekend approaching. So with the forecast set to fair, it’s time to get outside (before it inevitably starts raining again).

Whether you’re planning a picnic in the park, an impromptu camping trip or a gardening session, we’ve rounded up some of our bestsellers and the warm weather essentials you’ve loved to help you make the most of the sunshine.

Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff
Jörg Widmann conducted his own concerto with dynamism alongside virtuosic playing from his sister Carolin, while the BBCNOW were on incendiary form for Mendelssohn and Mozart

Jörg Widmann’s second violin concerto begins like no other – as though an inquisitive child had picked up a fiddle, trying to fathom what noises a bow on strings or wood might be capable of creating. Written for his sister Carolin in 2018, this concert was its UK premiere, with Carolin the soloist and her brother conducting the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The first movement is entitled Una Ricerca, a search, and the soloist also sings while playing, enticing the instrument to find its own voice. When melody finally emerges, the miracle of the violin is somehow underlined and the orchestra’s hitherto restrained support explodes in a volley of approval.

The long central Romanze, almost two-thirds of the whole concerto, is by turns passionate, lilting and playful: scales tossed around in a game of catch had a touch of the Sound of Music, but the music also connects back to the German Romantics, this heritage clearly as significant to Widmann as his teachers Hans Werner Henze, Heiner Goebbels and Wolfgang Rihm, the violin always the protagonist in an ongoing drama. Widmann, himself a renowned clarinettist, makes free with the possibilities of the whole orchestra, including a contrabass clarinet in the lineup, mutes altering the brass and bowed crotales in the array of vital percussion. The violin accompanied by glockenspiel, or by celeste and harp, conveyed a gentle, otherworldly aura, while a manic frenzy, atmospheric yet decisive, coloured the final movement. Carolin Widmann’s playing was virtuosic and plush – a broken string and the exchanges with first desk violins managed like sleight of hand – and always with the utter conviction of being the piece’s very inspiration.

Five-hour Commons debate sees objections to Rantzen’s accusation of ‘undeclared religious beliefs’

MPs opposed to assisted dying have criticised “distasteful” claims from the prominent campaigner Esther Rantzen, who argued many are fighting against the changes to the law because of secret religious views.

Rantzen made the remarks in a letter urging MPs to back the “strong, safe, carefully considered bill” to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales.