Our readers from across the county give their weekly take on the biggest issues impacting Kent and beyond.

Some letters refer to past correspondence which can be found by clicking here. Join the debate by emailing letters@thekmgroup.co.uk

Concern over immigration is not ‘far right’

Those who condemn the Southport riots more vehemently than the killing of three young children and the stabbing of eight others have evidently got their priorities wrong.

Broken buildings can be rebuilt but the dead can't be brought back to life.

Idiot rioters who attack the police and damage buildings should be punished according to law but the law is not being enforced equally and demonstrations are not being policed impartially.

Left-wing demos, for instance, get kid glove treatment from the police, who frequently turn a blind eye to criminality or just abandon the streets to disorder altogether.

So violence is okay when employed by some groups but not others. Why the double standards?

Politicians and mainstream media are demonising all demonstrators as 'far right', which will only make matters worse. There’s no real evidence for this. Most (non-rioting) demonstrators interviewed so far appear to have no previous political affiliations.

But even if that were true, the politicians would be to blame for such radicalisation given that for decades they have repeatedly ignored - even criminalised – legitimate public concerns about mass migration.

John Helm

Ashamed of the violent scenes on our streets

The evil racist scum who have brought terror to the streets of what we like to think of as ‘this green and pleasant land’ are no different from the Nazi brown-shirt thugs who terrorised Germany’s Jewish population in the 1930s.

And those right-wing politicians who have disgracefully attempted to justify such cowardly acts of mindless thuggery should themselves be arrested and charged with inciting violence.

Any pride I have taken in seeing what our athletes have achieved in Paris is being wiped out by the shame of what is happening on our streets.

The Second World War would never have happened if ordinary, decent Germans had not closed their eyes to what was happening in their country,

We must not allow history to repeat itself here.

Bob Readman

Why so long to investigate a road accident?

Having spent three hours getting to south Essex to visit family graves, I was delighted to hear that the new government has not ditched the planned Lower Thames Crossing.

Two hours of my journey was spent almost stationary in a traffic queue for the Dartford Crossing tunnels. We heard on the traffic news (after we'd joined the queue), that there had been an accident in one of the tunnels and the crossing was closed for recovery work and "accident investigation".

I couldn't quite see why both tunnels had to be closed for two hours when the accident was only in one of them. And how much "accident investigation" did you actually need?

All the traffic is going the same way; the options are, either somebody hit the vehicle in front of them, or they hit the vehicle next to them or the tunnel wall, there are no other options so accident investigations should have taken about five minutes.

It seems to be par for the course now that after any accident the police close the road for hours for investigating what must frequently be obvious.

I can't help feeling that this is all part of a modern box-ticking, i-dotting, t-crossing culture to ensure that nobody involved can be blamed for anything by any ambulance-chasing lawyer at a later date.

The other bright note from the government was that the Stonehenge tunnel is scrapped, huge sums of money saved which they could now use to dual the A303 past the monument so that those who want to gawp could drive past slowly, as they do at the moment and the rest of us could just get on with our journeys without the hold up.

Bob Britnell

Unfair to scrap winter fuel allowance

May I say a big ‘thank you’ to the Conservatives and now Labour for bashing pensioners like myself who are just above the pension tax credit limit.

We now have had to suffer yet another financial ignominy of losing the winter fuel allowance.

Firstly the Conservatives did not increase the personal tax allowance, so pensioners like me now pay tax on a meagre income and now lose the winter fuel allowance.

Last year we could only afford to have the heating on for one hour in the morning and one hour at night.

As always, bash the weakest link in society.

The warnings are there for all who voted Labour. Watch this space!

David Grummitt

Chancellor knew state of the economy

It has taken less than a month for the government’s election mantra, “fully costed and fully funded”, to be exposed as a blatant, Trumpian lie.

Worse still, it was totally unnecessary since the electorate had already decided that, come what may, the Conservative government had to be punished for its failings and even the Labour party would not be able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Everyone knew that the country was in a dire economic straits and, in any case, incoming governments always find the economic situation much worse than they could possibly have anticipated.

As shadow chancellor (and now chancellor of the exchequer), it was Rachel Reeves’ job to be well aware of the situation and so she must take full responsibility for this dishonesty.

Derek Wisdom

Individualism has led us to conflict

I recently heard a man speaking on TV news about National Insurance. I believe he was a former judge who had led major commissions of inquiry and produced reports on social issues.

He explained that everyone at some time would require social care. That care could involve large costs or very little. We do not know who will require what.

The way to prepare is for everyone to contribute over their working lives and then receive what they need (free) at the time of need.

This is a principle that applies throughout the whole of life, whether we think of health, education, housing, transport.

As a species, our tendency is to act in groups. This can be for good or ill.

The greatest mistake that we have made in our political lives is to accept Margaret Thatcher’s view of society. The root cause of trouble is the individualistic, competitive society.

A world, divided between those who count their wealth in millions (pounds, dollars, roubles or whatever) and the large numbers of people who live lives of poverty, deprivation and near starvation, can only end in conflict and war.

Instead of demonising those who call for a different world order, one in which peace and equality are uppermost, we should recognise that unless everyone can enjoy a full and happy life, there can be no lasting peace for anyone.

Ralph A Tebbutt

Increase defence budget as matter of urgency

Sir Keir Starmer has made a “cast iron” promise to increase our spending on the armed services but without setting a clear time frame, which probably made the promise look weak to both our foes and allies.

The urgency of this can’t be underestimated, given the fact that there appears to be a growing consensus that we in Europe have moved from a post-Second World War Europe to a pre-war one and need to be prepared for the possibility of conflict.

This is even more important given the prospect of a Trump victory in the American Presidential Election in November and a question mark over his continued commitment to NATO.

Against this background comes a stark reminder of the Second World War in the shape of the wreck of the American cargo ship, the SS Richard Montgomery which ran aground in 1944. It sits on the bottom of the Thames Estuary, contains 1,400 tonnes of live explosive and is found to be deteriorating faster than was thought.

If a detonation happened the Daily Mail sensationalised the event by saying it would ‘unleash a tsunami towards London’. This is unlikely but Sheerness, just 1.5 miles from the wreck, would certainly feel the impact.

To me, its frightening cargo is a reminder of the horror and destruction wrought by the Second World War. In London alone, 12,000 metric tons of bombs were dropped and 30,000 civilians were killed in enemy action during the course of the War.

Our new Labour government should make it a priority to increase the defence budget without delay and hopefully help prevent a future Russian invasion of other countries in Eastern Europe which were once part of the Soviet Union.

If this happened it would, without a doubt, trigger a third Europe-wide war which could, given Vladimir Putin’s unbridled, dictatorial leadership in Russia, at his instigation, escalate into the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

John Cooper

Rise of antisemitism is just victim blaming

Until last year, I had believed that the abomination of antisemitism, although still prevalent in much of the world, did not have many adherents in the UK or the USA.

However, the reaction of so many, largely on the Left, to Israel taking action to punish those responsible for the murderous attack on innocent people last 7th October, while seeking to ensure that such an atrocity cannot happen again, shows that this ancient hatred infects very many in both our countries.

The Jewish people were the victims, but both the mobs marching in our streets and moronic student protesters ignore this fact and instead accuse Israel of attempting genocide, as it tries to eliminate the terrorists of Hamas, who revelled in the deaths that they caused and have promised to repeat the slaughter if they get the chance.

Those, supposedly among the most educated, who are incapable of recognising the truth, and instead indulge in victim blaming, are unfit to be at university, but of course they are the products of the extreme left wing establishment which now dominates education.

The rot is everywhere, with large numbers of teachers determined to brainwash youngsters into believing the propaganda pumped out by extremists. Only a root and branch reform of the whole system can effect the necessary sea change but of course this will not happen under a socialist government, which lacks the will to take any effective action.

Colin Bullen

Posturing of politicians in hi-vis

One thing that strikes me as being somewhat questionable and just too much like grandstanding is when senior politicians of all stripes are seen sporting hi-vis vests at places where there is no practical reason for them to be worn.

The purpose behind the luminescent jackets is to act as a measure of safety in areas which have an element of risk.

But our politicians would argue that they symbolise being hands-on, approachable, and in line with the working class.

A virtuous example of solidarity that, to me, is more about bolstering their image in the knowledge pictures would be profiled in the media and go down well with the general public.

However noble their intention, I cannot escape the feeling that it's blatant posturing.

Michael Smith