Letters: we’re a rich country, we should do more for asylum seekers

http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2015/aug/09/observer-letters-asylum-seekers-david-cameron

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Everyone should read Nick Cohen’s article “Humans are a restless species…” (Comment). Certain organs of the media have assaulted our eyes and ears with lies about migrants sneaking into the UK, demanding and obtaining accommodation and elbowing citizens out of jobs. I used to be an interpreter and have worked at the Home Office and at detention centres. I know that asylum seekers – and those fleeing from Syria and other hell-holes are asylum seekers, not economic migrants – suffer while they travel here and continue to suffer after they arrive.

They risk their lives and, as Cohen writes, many lose their lives to escape anarchy, violence and torture in their own countries. It is amazing that any of them survive voyages in unseaworthy boats across the Mediterranean.

Italy and Greece cannot accept all of them and it is monstrous that the UK, represented by David Cameron, conspires with his peers to keep them out. As Cohen writes, Cameron has had the best education money can buy. I would expect Eton to teach boys a sense of responsibility; in his case, it has failed. This is a rich country. We share some of the guilt for making this such an unequal world. What we ought to share with other rich countries is ways of accepting asylum seekers, helping them recover from their sufferings, educating those under 18 and supporting the efforts of adults to find work. Instead, we treat them like vermin.Penelope MaclachlanLondon W7

Let’s hear it for the bassoon

Many thanks to Vanessa Thorpe for her article on Bram van Sambeek’s Save the Bassoon campaign (News). As the only bassoonist in a local amateur orchestra, I know how hard it is to locate young (or even, like me, old) players of the instrument. There is a parallel campaign initiated by Laurence Perkins, principal bassoonist of the Manchester Camerata, with the support of the British Double Reed Society. It announced recently that Sunday 11 October is to be International Bassoon Day. The idea is to organise as many impromptu performances as possible on that day, in the hope of stimulating interest, especially among young people. Let us hope that these campaigns bear fruit and we can continue to enjoy performances of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Peter and the Wolf, Mozart’s bassoon concerto and countless other pieces that depend on this glorious instrument.Graham GraftonBassoonist, Clacton Concert OrchestraManningtree, Essex

Only IOC profits from Olympics

The Olympics and the World Cup are no longer primarily about games or sports but about making money for their governing organisations (Editorial). In the past, monarchs processed through their kingdoms taking their court in train. Obsequious members of the aristocracy would bid for a monarchical visit and in hope build, at great cost, lavish royal suites in their stately homes. Many of these bids were unsuccessful but if successful the court would impose itself (with no cost to itself). The only reward was the shallow and transient one of prestige. So it is with bidding for the Olympics or the World Cup. Hopeful nations waste money bidding for the dubious reward of an alien organisation imposing itself and exploiting its host. George HudsonWorcester

Rent regulation works in Berlin

Related: Creative young Brits are quitting London for affordable Berlin

Johanna Kamradt’s report on the exodus of young creative types to Berlin highlights one important point that seems to be almost a taboo subject in the UK: easily available and properly regulated rental accommodation is not an impossible dream in a modern economy (“From New Cross to Neukolln: hip young Brits quit London for Germany’s capital”, world news).

Can we for once question the very British dogma that owning one’s home is the only acceptable way for a person in work to live? With affordable rented accommodation of a good standard, London might once again be a haven for young professionals instead of an investment zone for oligarchs.Niall BuchananEsher, Surrey

No Welsh opera in Swansea?

I came across an interesting sideline to the arts funding debate (Big Issue) when I asked the management of Welsh National Opera why its appearances in Swansea had become so infrequent. It appears that, since Welsh National Opera is a touring company while English National Opera is not, Arts Council England, as a richer body, funds the WNO to a greater extent than the Welsh Arts Council is able to. Consequently, our national opera company tours more in an adjacent country than it does in its own. Ironically, thanks to cinema live screenings, I’ve seen more ENO productions over the past 12 months, while they sit snugly in the Coliseum, than I have of WNO while they trek around England.Anne CowperSwansea

Cecil died for a man’s fun

Barbara Ellen’s column (Comment) missed the point about the widespread revulsion at the killing of the lion Cecil. That dentist killed purely for his own pleasure: no excuses about pest clearance or providing food. It was simply for the joy of playing with his bow and arrows.Betty BirchLondon SW6