Letters: Are the French doing enough in the fight against Channel trafficking?

SIR – The recent deaths of yet more migrants in the Channel (report, August 13) are another tragic reminder of why this trafficking must be stopped.

The incident also raises the question: what exactly are the French doing to justify the ever-increasing amounts of money that we pay them?

Those “rescued” while trying to make the journey should be returned to France, not given a free ride on to Britain. That would immediately undermine the service that the people-smugglers are offering.

Wesley Hallam
Batheaston, Somerset

SIR – It’s difficult to believe that migrants wishing to cross the Channel from France, with probably only mobile phones, can find smugglers – yet the authorities in both Britain and France seem unable to locate them. This is gross incompetence.

Paul Webster
Dyserth, Denbighshire

SIR – I remain convinced that if the Government had done more to target the people-traffickers above all else, the recent loss of lives in the Channel could have been avoided. 

Instead, it opted to put a sticking plaster on the problem.

Donough McGillycuddy
Grantham, Lincolnshire 

SIR – You report on the discovery of Legionella bacteria in the Bibby Stockholm barge’s water supply.

It was already evident that poor project management was a major problem in the handling of the Covid pandemic, and this latest story simply confirms that the failing is more widespread. 

No professional project manager would have taken the risk of allowing migrants to board the vessel before potentially game-changing tests of the water supply had been successfully completed.

Brian Whittingham
Dorchester, Dorset

SIR – First we had the Rwanda farce, and now we have the Bibby Stockholm story. A government trying to dig itself out of political trouble by highlighting the small boats issue needs to start behaving more responsibly.

It should construct, in conversation with immigrant representatives, a safe, purpose-built hostel where the incomers can live in a decent, peaceable environment until their future is determined.

Andrew McLuskey
Ashford, Middlesex

SIR – For as long as I can remember the Home Office has been labelled “not fit for purpose”. Is there not a case to be made for immigration to be removed from its remit?

Dr Stephen Humphreys
London NW11

Ethics of doctor strikes

SIR – A depressing facet of the strikes by trainee doctors and consultants (Letters, August 12) has been the lack of any moderate voice objecting to the harms being caused.

The strikers promulgate the notion that they don’t like striking, but somehow it is for the common good. And somehow responsibility is transferred to the Government. 

Apart from the arguments about pay, I struggle to see how striking will result in improvements to the NHS. The fact is that the decision to strike is a personal one by each individual doctor. When a doctor chooses to strike, they are making a conscious decision to inflict some harm on another person. This could range from (in an extreme case) premature death because of a delay in treatment, to prolonged pain and suffering during the wait for a procedure.

The ethics of this seem to have been excluded from the debate, probably because it would mean confronting an uncomfortable reality. 

I would suggest that, on strike days, instead of donning orange hats on picket lines, each doctor should look
in the mirror and ask: “Is what I am doing right”?

Dr Robert Walker FRCPE
Workington, Cumbria

The climate threat

SIR – Charles Moore says the BBC exaggerates climate change. I think it fails to convey the full magnitude of the threat.

Planet Earth has seen the hottest month on record. People suffered wildfires in Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Hawaii, Canada, America, Australia and Kazakhstan; record temperatures hit China and America; Chile’s bizarre new heat record is 37C (99F) – in the middle of winter.

Catastrophic floods after unprecedented rainfall are killing people in China; the sea is as hot as a bath in Florida; polar scientists are scared by the vast loss of Antarctic ice.

Scientists predicted these sorts of events, but experts such as Sir Robert Watson, Professor Jim Skea and Sir Brian Hoskins admit the consequences are even worse than they feared. They say almost all these events have been instigated or exacerbated by the heating effect of our emissions and warn that things will get worse as emissions are still rising. They say we must try to adapt – but also to cut emissions, however tough politically that might be.

News organisations such as the BBC and The Daily Telegraph must find a way to inform their audiences about this defining threat.

Dr Roger Harrabin
St Catharine’s College, Cambridge

A grand title

SIR – Ed Cumming discusses how grandparents prefer to be addressed.

I am blessed with one super granddaughter. I asked her to call me Grannie. What was good enough for our late Queen Elizabeth II is certainly good enough for me. 

Jacqueline Davies
Faversham, Kent

SIR – I rather liked Grandma, but by the time my elder two grandchildren could talk I was in the habit of making chocolate-chip cookies for them – so I became Grandma Cookie. My husband, meanwhile, has the ability to talk like Donald Duck, and therefore acquired the name Grandad Duck. 

We are now known as Duck and Cookie, making us sound like a pub.

Sandra Crawley
Shanklin, Isle of Wight

Confiscated overdraft

SIR – You report that Barclays has reduced the overdraft limits of “well-off” customers.

In the 1960s, I accidentally overdrew my account with Martins Bank – later taken over by Barclays – by £4. I was called in by my branch manager, which scared the life out of me, and I have never been overdrawn since. 

I am what you might call “comfortable” rather than “well-off”, with a healthy current account and an easy-access savings account. Imagine my surprise when I was recently informed that my overdraft facility had been withdrawn completely. I have not made a fuss, as I thought it had been removed because I was not making the bank any money by being overdrawn.

Was that cynical?

Ed Davies
Liverpool

Welsh in Wales

SIR – I grew up in mid-Wales during the Second World War. During that time I never met anyone who spoke Welsh (Letters, August 9). In fact, the only Welsh I ever learnt was for “county library”, since there was a bilingual notice on the door.

More importantly, at public events we sang, fervently, Land of My Fathers – not some Welsh words that nobody understood.

Alan Hakim
Havant, Hampshire

Pub sandwiches 

SIR – I live in the Cotswolds, an area extremely popular with walkers; and, like Howard March (Letters, August 12), I have noticed a dearth of pubs serving sandwiches at lunchtime. Many are also closed entirely for several days of the week.

I understand why pubs deep in the countryside have had to resort to becoming gastropubs in order to entice customers from further afield, and reduced footfall has made it hard to stay open every day. However, while I and my fellow walkers are keen to support them, the lack of simple sandwiches on the menu will mean that we resort to taking our own picnic lunches, and they will sadly suffer a further loss of revenue.

Mike Bridgman
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

SIR – I was recently in a pub in Leicester where I had a crusty cob filled with good wedges of strong cheddar and onion, washed down with a pint of local beer. Perfection.

Richard Sanders
Loughborough, Leicestershire

A poet’s perspective on the existence of God

SIR – On the subject of belief in God (Letters, August 12), I admire Philip Larkin’s position. 

He declared himself “an agnostic, I suppose, but an Anglican agnostic, of course”.

C J Fletcher
Stanton St John, Oxfordshire

SIR – Christianity rests not on an abstract idea but on the fact of the Resurrection – recorded by
eye-witnesses in all four gospels. 

One is, of course, entitled to ignore or disbelieve it, but not to simply assert that “there is no evidence 
that it is factually true” (Letters, August 9).

Denise Hurst
Poole, Dorset

SIR – For me, the proof that God exists is life itself. 

The alternative is to believe that it is all the result of an accident, and that is a far too fanciful idea.

E R Chalker
Tonbridge, Kent

Why SUVs deserve to be given an easier ride

SIR – Ian Brent-Smith (Letters, August 12) is highly critical of SUVs. 

My wife and I are both tall and in our seventies. Our SUV is easy to get into and out of, has plenty of headroom and handles sweetly. The boot will take four medium suitcases and other soft luggage. It also manages a reasonably economical 40 miles per gallon. 

Now seven years old, it suits us fine.

Nigel Carter
Devizes, Wiltshire

SIR – I agree that a “pretend off-roader” is pointless in central London, but a proper 4x4 is perfect for my lifestyle, and I won’t be giving mine up. 

I live between Johannesburg and my farm in Natal, and have three Land Rover Defenders. The newest is six months old; the oldest a sprightly 29 years. I doubt many EVs would last so long. Potholes don’t concern me, and even Johannesburg hijackers are wary. 

What is more, I can cruise down the motorway to Natal in the new one as effortlessly as in any upmarket saloon car, and when I get to my farm it’s straight into low-range. Off I go, through and over terrain that a lesser vehicle could never possibly manage. And all this with five dogs in the back.

Christopher Ash
Johannesburg, South Africa

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