When I hear the cries of woe over a “divided” country I think of Nazi Germany and its proud boast ‘Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer’ (‘One race, one nation, one leader’). Look where that got them.

China does require a high degree of unanimity, which it has apart from Hong Kong, where the seeds of democracy sown by our Empire are beginning to be felt.

We have always been divided and actually pay the leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition to ensure that we are. Things were different when my Jacobite ancestors rebelled in 1745. Then it was called ‘treason’ and they paid a heavy price.

AV Martin, Westfield Close, Wigginton,York