Sir – My family came to England in 1945 as refugees from Nazi persecution. There were many like us, and there was a quota system: not everyone got in. Other countries also helped. We were lucky. So were the “Kindertransport” children.
England was regarded as an enlightened, decent country: fair-minded. It was the only one that stood up to the Nazis. “We will never surrender!” said Churchill.
And we came to Oxford, where after a few years a small group, learning that people in Greece were starving, gathered enough support to send a ship loaded with supplies through the naval blockade: they called themselves Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, now Oxfam, a typically British organisation.
What has happened to change it so utterly? How could so many of us vote for a party that wants – among other savage things – to opt out of the sensible EU plan to allocate the thousands of desperate refugees arriving in the Mediterranean countries to other countries?
Of course we should not expect Italy, Greece, Malta to care for the survivors of the desperate crossing long term. Of course we should take in our quota.
Irene Gill
Oxford
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