IT would appear that we exist in a global society where racism and prejudice are not merely tolerated but are fast becoming the norm.

The inhumane and barbaric treatment of immigrants into the United States has met with widespread international condemnation (“Trump offers little clue to Republicans on how to end child migrant furore”, The Herald, June 21).

Theresa May, the Pope and even Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right, have united in their denunciation of immigration policy in the so-called “land of the free”.

Responding to this callous and immoral policy, President Trump, whose wife has criticised the use of cages for migrant children, sought initially to defend his position and then later, in true fashion, to blame his Democrat opponents and try to lie his way out of any criticism.

Compounding this breathtaking lack of compassion and empathy, the President’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, mocked a 10-year-old girl with Down’s syndrome who had been separated from her mother at the border.

This appalling display of ignorance in the face of the suffering of the most vulnerable is indicative of a new political and social norm, not only in the US but also internationally. Mr Trump’s presidency has witnessed a new nadir for acceptable civilised behaviour on a world stage.

In Hungary,Viktor Orban’s government debates on whether or not offering food to immigrants in his country should be made illegal whilst Italy turns away migrant ships and its interior minister, Matteo Salvini, launches a barely veiled attempt at ethnic cleansing of the Roma community, effectively dragging it back to 1930s dogma and practice.

The scaremongering and scapegoating observed in our own Brexit campaign cannot be viewed in isolation.

Parochial and draconian isolationism has become the accepted political yardstick in many countries across the globe, immaterial of democratic tradition and attention to human rights has become an inconvenience to be ignored or treated with contempt.

Scrape the veneer of our present political populism and you will find fascist ideology in all of its vainglorious finery. As the writer George Santayana stated: “ Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Owen Kelly,

8 Dunvegan Drive, Stirling.

PRESIDENT Trump’s decision to backtrack on separating children at the American border from parents charged with illegal entry to the United States is a welcome response to the widespread public outrage, although his intransigent repetition of “zero tolerance” remains offensive.

One hopes that the US electorate will apply its own brand of zero tolerance to his antics and end the country’s embarrassment on the world stage if he stands for re-election in 2020.

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.