Brexit is no fascist coup

I recently read your article on fascism in Britain post-Brexit and have to say was stunned (Peter Apap Bologna, ‘Democracy and Brexit’, 29 January 2016).

How dare you claim that Britain is heading towards fascism. You may have read a few books on the Second World War but you clearly know nothing about democracy.

I voted out of the EU last year because I want my directly, democratically-elected Members of Parliament to have more say on UK laws than a bunch of unelected committees and five (yes five) EU presidents that no-one I can see elected.

The definition of Fascism is ‘1.an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization’. Voting democratically does not mean my country is heading towards fascism quite the opposite. It shows that we are a working democracy and our MPs listen to the people not ignore them like unelected Brussels.

Your point is poorly put to say the least on the view that a minority are deciding what happens to Britain. No country in the world has 100% participation in elections, even in countries like Australia that make it a crime not to vote. If only 1 million people in Britain came out and voted on June 23rd last year and we won by 52% again for Out, that is still a majority of those who voted. If the younger generation can’t be bothered to vote that is their loss. Otherwise we would have to, in your ill-informed view, re-run every general election because not more than 50% of people voted.

Get your facts straight and look at the mess in the EU that the EU has been unable to sort out. The migrant crisis and the disastrous Wilkommen policy in Germany, the Euro crisis still goes on with Greece at the forefront of crippling repayments to the EU, Ukraine crisis smoulders on. 

Stay in the sinking ship that is the EU and you will see first hand what a terrible Idea the EU project is. They will drag you and your economy down while Britain starts trade deals with the other 6.4 billion people of the world.

Your humble fascist subject of Freedonia…

Alex Bennett, United Kingdom

Denouncing hate speech

Auschwitz survivor Susan Pollock appealed that we must fight any form of hate propaganda not to allow the danger we face if we allow it to grow and prosper

This week the BBC had a feature on Holocaust Memorial Day and interviewed a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Susan Pollock.

She describes the moment she was led into the camp with her mother on arrival. She says the dehumanisation started immediately. She ended her vivid description of the experience by appealing to everybody to continue to learn from the past to fight hate.

Stating repeatedly the hate has no barrier, she concluded her interview by emphasising that we were all of us in it. She appealed that we must fight any form of hate propaganda not to allow the danger we face if we allow it to grow and prosper. 

George Camilleri, Sliema

Hands off our health services

The privatisation of the Gozo hospital and other facilities at St Luke’s Hospital marks a departure point in the country’s health system

The privatisation of the Gozo hospital and other facilities at St Luke’s Hospital marks a departure point in the country’s health system. Surprisingly, the privatisation is happening under a Labour government, a party which for years denounced the privatisation of various institutions and agencies by successive PN governments.

The deal raises many suspicions especially since many pages from the contract between government and Vitals Global Healthcare on the privatisation of the St Luke’s Hospital and the Gozo hospital were not published. 

Government has argued that the deal will see the country spending less on health but as the experience of other countries has showed us wherever privatisation is introduced, research shows that healthcare gets less equal and it suggests that more people end up in hospital or dead.

In the UK, the outsourcing of NHS services to private companies damaged the quality of patient care because private entities put profits before patients. 

Private companies have a duty to reward their shareholders, so they have to prioritise making a profit. This means they may end up cutting corners, or underinvesting in public services.

Privatisation and outsourcing of health services will not only erode the founding principles of free health care for everybody – which previously was a sacred cow for all parties in Malta – but they are a terrible waste of taxpayer money.

Prioritising profits could also drive down wages and conditions of service.

Also, private companies are not directly responsible to the people and cannot be held accountable like public authorities and politicians can.  

The drive to privatise first and think later is fundamentally flawed. Far from modernising the national health system, patients will end up with services that are less accountable and less efficient.

Robert Grech, San Gwann