PLEASE send your letters (as short as you like) to info@conservativewoman.co.uk and mark them ‘Letter to the Editor’. We need your name and a county address, e.g. Yorkshire or London. Letters may be shortened. There is no guarantee of publication.
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Letter of the week: A long time in politics
Dear Editor
As Daniel Jupp so forcefully points out here, if so much has changed since 2024, how much more can change by the time of the next general election?
Nigel Jacklin
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A message to Farage, Habib and Lowe
Dear Editor
The Right must unite in order to beat the Left. There is no other way.
Bill Kenwright
London
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Better the devil you know?
Dear Editor
How did we get to a position where we cannot stand our PM but hope he stays given that we fear a potential Miliband replacing him?
How are we meant to make any progress?
John Watson
Liverpool
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Grooming gangs
Dear Editor
Hiding the UK Government’s disgrace on the international stage is no longer an option, the genie has well and truly escaped out of the bottle, well done to you for adding to the circulation of the facts on TCW.
Sue Forbes
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Purim is coming
Dear Editor
Tomorrow evening is the start of the Jewish Festival of Purim, through to Tuesday evening. It is celebrated as a time of happiness including eating those sweet treats which you really shouldn’t if you’re trying to lose weight but they make you feel good.
So what’s it all about? Purim originated in ancient Persia – modern Iran – with an attempt to wipe out the whole of the Jewish nation scattered throughout the whole Persian Empire. The book of Esther in the Bible describes the demotion of Queen Vashti by King Ahasuerus, and her replacement as Queen by a Jewish young lady, Esther. Prime Minister Haman felt insulted by Mordecai, one of the Jewish nobles, and wanted revenge on the whole lot of them world-wide.
Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, had saved the king’s life, but had not yet been rewarded. Through various twists in the story, Esther wins the king’s favour and gains a decree that the Jews should defend themselves. Haman had chosen the date for his revenge by casting lots. Purim is the Hebrew word for this, hence the name of the feast. Haman had also built a tall gallows to execute Mordecai and his family – which would include Queen Esther. But then Haman upsets the king and is himself hanged. Historians record that Vashti, though not queen, still travelled alongside Ahasuerus in later years at her own expense, deposed but free.
When celebrating Purim, the book of Esther is read aloud. Every time the name of Haman is read, everyone makes as much noise as they can to blot him out. About 20 years ago I came across a video, which I wish I could still find, showing some IDF soldiers at a firing range during Purim. One of them was reading from Esther. The cue for the others to fire their weapons was the name Haman. I have tried to blot out his name in this note.
Theologians have discussed the fact that God is never mentioned in the Book of Esther. But His footprints and fingerprints are all over it.
There are some interesting parallels with our times. We could suggest, for example, that for decades there has been a régime in Iran which, like Haman, is making threats around the world.
I will conclude with a word to those who call themselves Christians. This is part of our Bible. One message to us is to consider in what ways we are placed in our local corner of the kingdom ‘for such a time as this.’ Our first calling is prayer. Then there may be other things we can do, in the spirit of Queen Esther who said, ‘If I perish, I perish,’ but she did what she could.
Robert Higginson
Birmingham
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Fear of being racist is stronger than fear of murder
Dear Editor
Hamid Zaman pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in October 2024 when he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow. Judge Douglas Brown remanded Zaman in custody and deferred sentencing for reports. Wait a minute – he was jailed for 12 years in 2015 in Manchester for the rape of a 33-year-old woman whom he attacked with a brick and a glass bottle. So let’s see if my maths is correct. Out of jail November 2020, put in jail 2015, so that is only five years not the 12 years he was sentenced to. I trust Judge Douglas Brown will throw away the key.
In another case, paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane was freed from hospital after medics raised concerns that sectioning him could be racist. He went on to slaughter students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar and caretaker Ian Coates in a random stabbing spree in Nottingham in June 2023. It would appear that the fear of being seen as being racist is worse than being seen as being responsible for murder. Those who authorised his early release should be named and sacked.
Clark Cross
Linlithgow
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Everybody out!
Dear Editor
I woke on Saturday to see that an operation has begun against the regime in Iran by President Trump. I was reading the Telegraph’s report, and spotted this at the bottom. I thought to share it after our strange political week in Britain.
Jonathon Boyd
