The Week UK - 29.02.2020

27

Thedangerofdredging

ToTheDailyTelegraph

Iownasmallstretchofthe

RiverStour,theboundary

betweenSuffolkandEssex.

Here1 00 ,0 00 schoolchildren

havehadthechancetostudy

environmentaleducationon

our25-acrenaturereserve.

Overthepast5 0 years

therehasbeenendless

mismanagementoftheriverby

variousgovernmentagencies.

Ihadatelephonecallmany

yearsagofromanearnest

youngmanfromAnglian

WaterAuthority.Itwantedmy

reaction,asalandownerand

conservationist,toabrilliant

schemebyoneofitsengineers,

wherebythisstretchofthe

riverwouldneverfloodagain.

Itentailedfillinginanexisting

ten-milestretchandcreatinga

new,deadstraight stretch.

“Youknow,” hesaid,“just

like acanal.”Ican’trecallmy

exactwords,butthere were

anawful lotof expletives.

Mercifully,thatschemenever

progressed,but shortlyafter

thisanew onewas started.On

thatoccasion Irefused toallow

accessonto myland,but

upstreamanddownstreamof

heredredgingtookplace,and

wonderfulreedbeds,oncefull

oflife,wereexcavatedand

deposited onthe banks,“to

stop the flooding”.

Predictably,largeamounts

ofwaterwentover the banks,

butthefishandinsect lifewere

unabletoreturntotheriver

when the flood watertried

torecede.

Now,the hideousbanks

remain,annualflooding

continues,andthehabitat

hasstillnotrecovered.

So, yes,dredging is required,

butitneeds to be done

selectively, professionally and

with properconsiderationfor

the animal, fish andplantlife

in each area.

Major IainGrahame (retd),

Lamarsh, Essex

Now wash your hands

To TheDailyTelegraph

Arecent study found that the

plastic personal effectstrays

used in airport securitychecks

containedmany viruses and

bacteria moreharmful than

those in airport toilets.

Thesetrays arenot washed

frequently, so passengers

should carry anti-bacterial

sprayto administertothe

trayandtheirhandsbefore and

afterpassingthrough security.

FionaThomas,Grosmont,

Monmouthshire

Troubleinparadise

To The Sunday Times

Iwenttoschoolin StLucia

and Ihavedecadesof

experience ofthe smaller

islands ofthe Caribbean.They

used tohave littlecrime.Then

Americabeganto repatriateits

criminalstothe islands on

whichtheyhadbeenborn.

The resultishigh crimerates

on many of theislands.

It makessense to repatriate

criminalswho have cometo

this countryas adults.But,

as Sarah Baxtersays, it is

manifestly unfair to send

“back” thefailuresofour

educational system.The

smaller islands in particular

do nothavethe resources to

copewith crim inalswho have

no hope offindingwork.

What is the poin tofthe

UK sendingmoney to them

as overseas aid ifwe more

than offset it with hordes of

repatriatedcriminalswho

have learnttheirtrade here?

AngusPalmer, Godalming,

Surrey

Points-based bigotry

To the FinancialTimes

Allserious,evidenced-based

studies show thatthereisa

cleareconomicbenefit from

migrationforwork.The

samestudies demonstrate

thateconomic migrants

overachieve, commit fewer

crimes,do better atschool

andare nettaxcontributors.

Withoutporingover thedata,

self-selectionexplains much

of this.Risk-takers emigrate.

Still,thepeople have spoken

andtheymustbegiven their

pound offlesh.AsPriti Patel,

the Home Secretary, put itin

herarticle in TheSun on

Sunday: “Migrantshave

exploited free movement to

undercut you, taking away

jobs anddriving down wages.”

From nowon, “workers

coming totheUKwillhave

to prove theyhave something

to offer” .Millions of UK

businesses andpublic bodies

mustbe questioning their

sanity in havingspent years,

before Patel’s intervention,

hiringEU workerswith

not hing to offer.

Patel’s points-based system

beliesasense ofinferiority,

dressed up as self-

aggrandisement.Arewe really

to takeseriously, inacountry

where indigenous,white

childrenachieve someofthe

lowesteducationalattainment

levelsinEurope,thataPhD

gets youamaximum of2 0

outof70points? Orthat a

PhD inappliedmathematics

is,on itsown,justnotgood

enoughforsomeone who has

thepresumptiontowantto

work intheUK?Muchthe

samegoesfortherequirement

tospeakEnglish. Just how

manyEuropeans,workingin

theUK, don’tspeak English?

WouldtheUKnotbe better off

by teachingits citizens tospeak

another language instead? Or

indeedthe grammarand

syntaxof theirown language?

Asone wouldexpect from

apolicy designed chieflyto

repaytheelectoraldebtowed

to the powerof bigotryand

populism, itsfocusison the

typeof jobs theGovernment’s

supporters understand. What,

is the “appropriate”skilllevel

of aballetdancer?Or howcan

anovelistpossibly reachthe

HomeSecretary’s70 points?

AlessandroCiravegna,New

CollegeCapital,London

Talkingyour way in

To The Guardian

It’snonsensetoassert, as

MayaGoodfellow does,that

requiringlanguage competency

forimmigrantsisxenophobic.

HereinCanada, the ability

to speakoneof our official

languages isarequirement

universallyacceptedinthis

immigration-friendly country.

The lackof suchrulesresults in

ghettoesandadisadvantaged

underclass.

DavidMoores,Canada

29 February 2020 THE WEEK

LETTERS

Pick of the week’s correspondence

©GRIZELDA/SPECTATOR

“Stop being so young –

it’s annoying everyone”

●Letters have been edited

Letterof the week

Dresden:our disgrace

ToTheSpectator

JonStone’sletterrecallsthehorrorsandmiseriesofbeing

subjectedtobombingfromtheair.Howrightheistodoso.

Thedeliberateburningandcrushingofciviliansintheirhomes

isarevoltingandindefensibleformofwarfare.Itisnosurprise

thatHitlerusedit.

Whatissurprisingisthatpeopleinthiscountrycontinue

tomakeexcusesforourownuseofthismethod,whichwas

actuallyfarmoreextensiveanddeadlythantheGerman

bombingoftheUnitedKingdom.Therearenosuchexcuses.

Thosewhofallbackonutilitarianjustificationswillalsofind

thatthesedonotwork.ThebombingofGermanyfailedonits

ownterms.Itsallegedachievementsindivertingaircraftand

artilleryfromtheEa sternFrontwouldhavebeenfargreater

hadweattackedmilitaryandindustrialtargets.Ofcoursethe

GermanmassacreoftheJewswasworsebeyondcomparison,

andthosewhotrytoequatetheseeventsaretobedespised.

Buttheperpetrationofauniquelygreatevildoesnotwipe

outlesserevils.

ThereismuchtalkofDresden,butalmostnoneofthe

dozens ofother cities onwhose peoplewe raineddeath.The

pointremainsthattheBritishgovernment knewit couldnot

hit militarytargets accuratelybynight,anddid not(unlike

the US)develop the capacitytobombbyday.Soitorderedthe

bombingofcities,concentratingon poor areaswherehousing

was densest. Ihavethoughtfor some timethatour modern

moralcoarseness insomanyareasoflifeisaresultofour

continuingfailure torecognise what wedid, andshowproper

contritionfor it.

Pe terHitchens,London