‘You can’t shirk responsibility for our planet by placing the blame on others’

‘Pointing fingers isn’t going to make climate change it go away’, a reader explains (Picture: Metro/Getty)

Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.

Readers react to Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting with Xi Jinping

Starmer criticised for meeting China’s Xi Jinping as Hong Kong freedom protesters were being jailed (Picture: STEFAN ROUSSEAU/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

‘Few countries agree on everything – doesn’t mean they can’t be rational’
Michael Jones (MetroTalk, Thu) says Sir Keir Starmer is ‘supping with the devil’ in seeking ‘respectful’ relations with China.

He talks as if one can only rationally deal with countries the UK politically agrees with. Yet few countries agree on everything and such a view would result in there being few UK embassies abroad.

Mr Jones further talks of ‘liberty in Tibet, freedom of expression in Hong Kong and independence of Taiwan’.

This implies the West has an implicit and non-existent right to attack the internal policies of countries, simply because of such inevitable disagreements.

Tibet, Hong Kong and Taiwan are parts of the People’s Republic of China and,aside from 12 countries with Taiwan, are not legally recognised as independent .

And countries such as the UK rarely accept foreign interference in their internal affairs eg no UN peacekeeping troops in Northern Ireland during the civil war there. The only true mark of respect, in this context, is to respect those with whom you do not agree and that being respectful of the concept of national sovereignty is the highest good, regardless of whether or not you agree with any nation’s internal policies. Robert Bucknor, Tunbridge Wells

Keir Starmer also met the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi at the G20 Summit in Brazil (Picture: Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

Neglecting to mention the actions of Modi’s party…
In his defence of prime minister Narendra Modi, Mr Sharma (MetroTalk, Thu) pushes the issue of the demise of Indian democracy to one side and neglects completely the fact that tens of thousands of Christians, Muslims and Buddhists have been attacked, tortured and murdered by the extremist bigots of his political party, to which he has lent encouragement.

Democracy? Religious tolerance? Mr Sharma is clearly ignorant of such critical aspects of any civilised society. Julian Shurgold, Croydon

Reluctant patients and angry farmers

‘I’m forced to go abroad for dental treatment‘
All week I have been seeing reports of poor if not fatal medical treatment abroad. Last week I broke my denture. Trying to get an NHS or affordable replacement is impossible and I am being forced to go abroad. So, thanks Cameron, Johnson, Truss and Sunak for destroying NHS dentistry. George, via email

‘Farmers are angry at losing the exemption they enjoy’

Great ‘Farmageddon!’ headline about the farmers’ protest in London (Metro, Wed). I was at the House of Commons visiting the justice select committee and chatted with some of those taking part.

I do think they can plan their inheritance tax affairs – they are angry at losing the exemption they currently enjoy.

Any liabilities can be spread over ten years. They can gift assets and if they live seven years longer, there is no tax. Many farmers voted for Brexit and hated the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)

I rather think they wish they were back in the days of the CAP. Andrew Edwards, Islington

‘Tax is the subscription fee we pay to live in civilised society.’
In response to Richard (MetroTalk, Mon) and to concur with Mr Dhadli (MetroTalk, Wed) , tax is the subscription fee we pay to live in civilised society. Richard would do well to remember that. Yann, Manchester

Scanning too slow, the older generation having it easy and no one sounds like Paul Weller

‘Inexperienced person in the scanning area’
Could supermarkets please bring back the ‘ten items or less’ checkout aisles? In my local the other day, a little old lady was getting very confused when trying to use the self-service checkout and had to call an assistant three times to help. By then an irate queue was forming. It’s not always the ‘unexpected item in the bagging area’ that slows things down but sometimes the ‘inexperienced person in the scanning area’. Carlos, Lancashire

‘Buying a house was never easy’
I read a lot about millennials complaining that their parents had it easy, that houses were cheaper and there were plenty of jobs etc. That wasn’t our experience. Yes, houses were cheaper but wages were much lower so houses were never cheap.

As for work, I was made redundant three times during the Thatcher years. There was massive unemployment. Hanging on to any job wasn’t easy.
I remember the riots. The miners’ strike and the three-day week and power cuts. No, it certainly wasn’t easy back in the day for anyone. T, Glasgow

‘Paul Weller is unmatched’
Simon (MetroTalk, Wed) talks about soundalike artists. Well, there is no one who sounds like Mr Paul Weller – he has a unique voice and so many different styles of music. Holly, London

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