Boris Johnson is being leaned on, by all and sundry, to apologise for his remarks about women wearing the burqa.

Personally I, and the many people who replied to a questionnaire in another newspaper, support him with what he said.

Johnson’s remarks were a bit crude but quite funny nonetheless.

We in Britain hold freedom of speech very close to our hearts.

Yet there is never a day goes by when there is not a newspaper article about somebody-or-other having to apologise for and withdraw something he, or she, may have said.

Mostly, as in Boris Johnson’s case, the article will be quite funny. There may well be others which have to be removed because of their insulting or crude language. In those cases I agree, wholeheartedly, with their being removed.

There was a Tory MP who threatened to resign if Mr Johnson didn’t apologise for his remarks.

Let’s hope Boris calls his bluff and refuses.

Philip Roe,

Roman Avenue South,

Stamford Bridge

Dismayed at way politics is heading

I HAVE been interested and involved in politics from my teenage years, and read with thanks your various commentaries and the reports you regularly

publish from our local MPs.

I am, however, increasingly dismayed by the form politics is now taking, not least in this country.

Where criticism by politicians was mostly directed at alternative policies and systems of government, it is now directed almost entirely at groups or communities.

All ‘our’ problems, it is suggested, can be solved by separating ‘ourselves’ from this or that ‘harmful’ group of people.

That thinking applies even within the parties.

It is easier to demonise other humans, than to analyse, revise and debate publicly ways of improving policies and systems.

We are fortunate that neither of our York MPs advises us - as a means of improving our society - to condemn or vilify people of a particular religion, or race, or persuasion, or profession, or nationality.

Maurice Vassie,

Deighton, York