Here illegally
Sir: Unfortunately, Charlotte Eagar misses the point (‘The alpha migrants’, 31 July). The Channel migrants may be ‘bright and brave’, and may repay what they gain from the benefit system. But they are here illegally, thus riding roughshod over the immigration system and those who are still waiting to have their asylum applications processed lawfully. This farce must not be allowed to continue as a taxpayer-funded taxi service for people-trafficking gangs.
Victoria Baillon
Hornblotton, Somerset
On liberty
Sir: Michael Cullup (Letters, 31 July) bemoans that ‘The Spectator these days seems obsessed with the idea of freedom’ and that his youth of boarding school, blackouts, rationing and the Royal Navy means that most of his generation aren’t bothered by restrictions on liberty.
Firstly, The Spectator has always been one of Britain’s premier voices for liberty. David Butterfield’s recent history of the magazine, 10,000 Not Out, details how this has been so since 1828.
With regards to his second argument, the answer is yes, life in Britain has normally been different to his formative years.
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