American style has gotten out of hand
Gwyneth Paltrow once said that, according to her father, the secret behind her parents' 30-year marriage in the divorce-ridden world of Hollywood was that 'they never wanted to get divorced at the same time' (Letters, 27 May).Richard EhrlichLondon
We have children because they grow up and leave home, and we have dogs because they don't (Are millennials really substituting dogs for children? Obviously not – as any dog owner would know, 28 May).Roger LeitchBath
Look, some of us just prefer dogs to children, OK?Geoff HolmanKnutsford, Cheshire
It's no surprise that Keir Starmer's Labour is happy with the decline of swift numbers (Letters, 28 May). After all, they are migrants.Pete BibbySheffield
Since my total colectomy operation, I have neither a colon nor even a semicolon (Letters, 28 May), but thanks to the NHS my life has not come to a full stop.Bob EptonBrigg, Lincolnshire
Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Secret gay sex scandal explodes in Republican Party as 'closeted' congressman who's engaged to a woman is accused of sordid double life
A secret gay sex scandal has rocked the Republican Party as married men and a sitting member of Congress have been accused of sleeping with male escorts — even as their party thunders about traditional family values. In candid interviews, young, muscular sex workers in Washington DC described a booming business fueled by Republican officials, from state lawmakers and high-powered lobbyists to federal government staffers and at least one congressman.
The Independent
4 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump team will soon decide what's ‘anti-American' when granting citizenship
President Donald Trump's administration is now screening for what it considers 'anti-American activity' when deciding whether immigrants can legally live and work in the United States. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on Tuesday that 'anti-American' activity — including social media posts and any perceived ideological affiliations — will be considered an 'overwhelmingly negative factor' when deciding whether immigrants can stay in the country legally. But it will be largely up to officers' discretion to decide what 'anti-American' means, relying on a 60-year-old immigration law that prohibits alleged communists or people who support 'totalitarian' governments from entering the country. 'America's benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies,' USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said in a statement Tuesday. 'Immigration benefits — including to live and work in the United States — remain a privilege, not a right." The agency's policy manual was updated Tuesday to note that immigration authorities can deny citizenship, work permits, green cards and other lawful status to anyone it deems to have supported 'anti-American ideologies' or 'anti-American activities.' The agency's review of social media profiles will also screen for 'anti-American activity,' USCIS announced. The manual notes that the definition of 'anti-American' relies on language in a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which doesn't mention 'anti-American' and largely focuses on communism. That 1952 law was drafted at the height of red-scare hysteria, Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist crusade, and investigations under the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which investigated alleged disloyalty and subversive activities, including perceived communist sympathies. The guidance comes just days after the Trump administration expanded a 'good moral character' test for citizenship, with officers instructed to perform more than a 'cursory mechanical review focused on the absence of wrongdoing.' Immigration authorities must now consider 'a holistic assessment of an alien's behavior, adherence to societal norms, and positive contributions that affirmatively demonstrate good moral character.' The Trump administration's latest maneuvers join an expansive anti-immigration agenda defined by mass arrests, stripping legal status for tens of thousands of people, restricting who can enter the country — and who can be considered a citizen. The president is seeking to unilaterally redefine birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment while closing all points of entry for asylum seekers and cutting off legal protections for more than one million immigrants — radically expanding the pool of 'undocumented' people now vulnerable for arrest and removal. USCIS guidance announced on Tuesday also instructs authorities to screen whether applicants promote what they consider 'antisemitic terrorism and antisemitic terrorist organizations' and 'antisemitic ideologies.' The new screening measures follow similar guidance from USCIS and other agencies as the Trump administration targets campus dissent against Israel's war in Gaza, which officials broadly characterized as antisemitic. In May, USCIS announced the agency was 'immediately' reviewing immigrants' social media accounts for what it considers 'antisemitic activity' that could be used as evidence to deny them legal status in the United States. 'This will immediately affect aliens applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and aliens affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity,' according to the agency. The following month, the State Department restarted interviews for student visa applicants and directed embassies and consulates to 'conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants. Those applicants' social media privacy settings must also be 'public' to be reviewed by immigration authorities, according to State Department orders. Diplomats were ordered to review social media profiles for 'any indications of hostility towards the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.' They also were instructed to decide if applicants displayed any 'advocacy for, aid or support for foreign terrorists and other threats to U.S. national security' and 'support for unlawful antisemitic harassment or violence.'
The Independent
4 minutes ago
- The Independent
California man who admitted shipping weapons to North Korea is sentenced to 8 years in prison
A California man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after admitting to shipping weapons and ammunition to North Korea that he said were to be used for a surprise attack on South Korea, authorities said Tuesday. Shenghua Wen, 42, came to the U.S. from China on a student visa in 2012 and remained in the country illegally after it expired, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles. Wen pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, the statement says. He was sentenced on Monday. Wen told investigators that before he entered the U.S., he met with North Korean officials at an embassy in China, where they instructed him to procure goods for the North Korean government. He also admitted that he tried to buy uniforms to disguise North Korean soldiers for the surprise attack, a federal complaint says. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has demonstrated an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the North's border with South Korea, a U.S. ally, recently delivering nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units. United Nations resolutions ban North Korea from importing or exporting weapons. In 2022, North Korean officials contacted him via an online messaging app and instructed him to buy firearms, prosecutors said. He shipped two containers of weapons and other items from Long Beach, California, to North Korea via Hong Kong in 2023. He told U.S. authorities that he was wired about $2 million to do so, according to the complaint. Authorities did not specify in the complaint the types of weapons that were exported. To carry out his operation, Wen purchased a business in 2023 called Super Armory, a federal firearms licensee, for $150,000, and registered it under his business partner's name in Texas. He had other people purchase the firearms and then drove them to California, misrepresenting the shipments as a refrigerator and camera parts. Investigators did not say whether Wen had organized any shipments during his first 10 years in the U.S. The FBI in September seized 50,000 rounds of ammunition from Wen's home in the LA suburb of Ontario that had been stored in a van parked in the driveway, the complaint says. They also seized a chemical threat identification device and a transmission detective device that Wen said he planned to send to the North Korean government for military use, the complaint says.
