Just wanted to give you my reactions to the contributions on the refugees which have gathered around Calais. Must say I found the term 'miscreants' quite inaccurate and inflammatory.
I've seen the shanty-town like settlements of blue tents in the Calais dunes and the young men and some old ones and some very young ones, almost children still, walking in little groups or alone along the motorway to the ferries. All I could see were people who had left their family, their home and the very little they might have possessed, behind. They must have travelled far in terrible circumstances not to mention the crossings of the Mediterranean in unseaworthy boats. Seeing them there in the cold, no luggage and only the clothes they stood up in made me cry.
I agree with Val and Sarah that there is a problem for Europe and that as Europeans we have to sort it out together, with humanity, compassion and honesty. These qualities are often hard to find among the people who govern us. I think the media have a lot to answer for too feeding the public selective information which plays on their fears, We should all be careful not to take what we read in the newspapers for gospel. Calling people names, feeling superior to them, the 'Them and Us' approach have no place in finding answers.
EllyComments to taglines82@gmail.com
