I do not intend to prolong the Brexit debate, since it is clear that there will not be a meeting of minds on this crucial issue. However, I do need to respond to Thelma Frost (August 10), whose comments regarding patriotism are immoderate and ill considered.  

Both sides of this debate need to understand that most on the other side express their views as a result of the same profound sense of patriotism as they themselves feel. Many of us – on both sides – have spent a lifetime contributing to the success of the UK and its economy, and we all simply want to protect our country’s future.

Comparison with World War Two is utterly inappropriate: At that time, we faced a threat about which we could do nothing – fighting was the only option, and as a result the entire population pulled together. In the case of Brexit, the vast weight of evidence points to it inflicting harm on the UK’s wellbeing. However, in this case we can do something about it – it is self-inflicted – we do not have to Brexit. So please do not mistake Remainers’ objections to Brexit as a lack of patriotism: they in fact result from exactly the opposite.

Perhaps a more useful comparison can be drawn with the rise of the Nazis in the 30s: when the National Socialist Party intimidated voters using the stick of patriotism to suppress freedom of expression, and to manipulate the German population. However, the world has moved on since World War Two and continual references to it are unhealthy.

Democracy was not suspended on June 23, 2016, and neither was our freedom of speech. I will continue to fight the threat that Brexit poses to the UK until it becomes an inevitability – and we are as yet a long way from that eventuality. I expect Leavers to do likewise. I would suggest that views of ordinary people on either side rarely result from a lack of patriotism, and we would all do well to remember this.

Dr Shaun Davey, Tivington, Minehead.