ALL hail Theresa May’s Damascene conversion to the virtues of civilised political discourse, the ability to accommodate others’ point of view, and her new awareness of the damage done to the political environment by undermining democratic values.

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What a pity she didn’t look in a mirror and say these things to herself when she acceded to the hot seat in 10 Downing Street; displaying instead a wooden obduracy and complete absence of inclusiveness or empathy for those other points of view – like respecting rights of national self-determination, for example.

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As it is, Wednesday’s valedictory oration reads like nothing more than self-exculpatory rewriting of what is in the round a record not merely of incessant failure but destructive and perniciously supremacist internal imperialism. That, and her longer record of poisoning the social climate as Home Secretary, won’t be expunged that easily.

Colin Stuart
Saline, Fife