When it comes to mental health, we must consider the experiences of migrant women

Annabel Head and Jessica Bond are to be lauded for raising awareness about the root causes of psychological distress. I must also add that service providers must have knowledge about the historical, political, religious, social and cultural sensitivities of refugees’ experiences to be able to tailor their service provisions to better meet their health demands.

They must also take into account women’s experiences and the impact of societal considerations, patriarchy, power, control on women, in addition to pre- or post-migrant experiences, refugees’ perceptions of host country policies, the impact of employment, healthcare, and draconian policies on their mental distress.

Last but not least, many topics – especially mental illnesses, depression, physical and psychological traumas – are stigmas and taboos even in the west. Some people avoid saying openly “I suffer from depression” for fear of being discriminated against, although the rate of people with mental health issues is incredibly high. Work need to be done to expunge this mentality from societies.

Dr Munjed Farid al Qutob
London NW2

The royal wedding was a brilliant display of political correctness

In the end I gritted my teeth and watched the royal wedding. The pageantry and stage management were, as expected, without equal. So was something else.

The lead-up in the preceding weeks had the multiculturalists pulling out all the stops. The suspicion was that the wedding itself was going to be overloaded with the same idealism. One was not disappointed. Not only was the occasion steeped in political correctness but was highly political per se.

One television audience member in Los Angeles was reported to have declared: “This will change the world forever.”

Nobody seems to have spotted that the “change” came by accident, with Harry falling in love with who he did, and a wonderful person she appears to be. But if he had fallen for an English rose, as his brother did, the wedding would have been entirely different.

Edward Thomas
Eastbourne

Yes, as John Rentoul says, the wedding was lovely to watch. But is it really the case that a nation that cannot support its elderly, poor or provide hospital care for its sick should spend its money on the millions needed, according to The Independent, to provide the security for it?

Graeme Jackson
Gloucester

Prince Harry has confirmed the old maxim that a man who opens a car door for his wife either has a new car or a new wife.

Dora Henry
Warwickshire

Theresa May’s plan may end in tears

With reference to Theresa May’s strategy for boiling frogs, I greatly fear that she is about to discover that if you kick the can of worms down the road for long enough, sooner or later it splits open and all the elephants in the room come out of the long grass.

Bruce Napier
Derbyshire

Nicola Sturgeon needs to let go of the illusion that she’s in charge

Speaking on TV this weekend, Nicola Sturgeon dodged a question about when she’d like the second Scottish referendum to take place by saying: “In the autumn... after the Brexit outcome... I will consider again the question of the timing of an independence referendum.”

Sturgeon continues to maintain the fantasy that she’s in charge. Is there anyone left in Scotland who doesn’t know Theresa May makes the decision and has repeatedly made clear the democratic result of the “once in a generation” vote will be respected, and that “now is not the time” will continue until after the next Holyrood election?

Martin Redfern
Edinburgh

What could possibly go wrong with Boris Johnson’s globetrotting?

Boris Johnson’s going to Argentina to help thaw relations, is he?

Surely nothing can go wrong with his track record. This could be car crash TV all over again.

David Murphy
Address supplied

Is the plastic tax not a bit counterproductive?

Perhaps I missed something in Joe Watts’ article on plastic tax. If the tax is so high that companies will cease using non-recyclable plastic where does that leave the “money stream” to pay for the recycling plants?

The new measures also don’t address the problem of how all the plastic waste, recyclable or not, that is discarded often from vehicles, will make it to the recycling plants.

G Forward
​Stirling