Wild Rose isn’t quite that wild

THE Morning Star (April 12) gave a very positive review to the film Wild Rose but opened the piece by saying that “Irish singer and actress Jessie Buckley literally explodes onto the screen…”
Messy, then.

ROSS BRADSHAW
Five Leaves Bookshop
Nottingham

Gilet jaunes can inspire the left

IT LOOKS to me that people are being cheated out of a democratic vote on membership of the EU.

But the referendum was never an exercise in democracy, rather an effort to enhance the authority of the Cameron government over its divided party that went wrong.

It seems to me that the powers that be will do almost anything not to leave or at worst to leave things as they are in their present unsatisfactory state.

The result will be enhanced credibility for the far right on the street. But the gilet jaunes in France might provide some inspiration for the left.

Yes, Britain does not have the same insurrectionary tradition as France but concertation with such movements all over Europe might do as much or more than this no vote in promoting needed radical change for workers against the current capitalist morass of worker insecurity, unfair taxes, and the strange combination of privatisation and sovereign debt and austerity.

CHRIS GOULD
Norwich

No body should police itself

I WAS shocked to learn that Combat Stress “is set to clear itself” over complaints from traumatised ex-troops (M Star, April 9).

I hope the Care Quality Commission does decide to hold its own investigation as no organisation should be allowed to police itself.

We sent our forces into these wars many of us didn’t want, so we owe them a duty of care to look after them back home.

TIM MICKLEBURGH
Grimsby

Giant of our paper and the movement

JOHN HAYLETT is a giant of the Morning Star, the labour movement and the left.

Others can speak more knowledgeably of his decades of commitment to the struggle. What I can pay tribute to directly is his unwavering moral and political compass, his breadth of knowledge, depth of insight and tireless energy.

Not to mention the patient good humour he directed at cocky young know-it-alls like me as he worked to nurture, educate and inspire the next generation of Star journalists who have taken up the baton so ably.

John will be remembered as a great editor who brought the paper through some very difficult times then pushed open the door for a revived and resurgent British left.

I only regret that the terrible news about his health means he may be denied the long, happy and above all peaceful retirement he has so richly earned.

JAMES EAGLE
London E11
Morning Star 2003-2014