MICHAEL Clarke (Oxford Mail, August 7) suggests John Tanner should stick to sorting the rubbish.

I cannot help wondering whether, were Councillor Tanner to do so, one of the first things he might need to deal with is Mr Clarke’s letter; certainly it does appear to contain a great deal of rubbish.

Mr Clarke tells us our armed forces went to Afghanistan to make life better for the people of that country. No they did not. We sent troops to Afghanistan in pursuit of Al Qaida in the aftermath of 9/11.

As part of that operation we needed to dislodge the Taliban government that was protecting Al Qaida.

However, the Taliban were never completely defeated, and they continue to mount bloody attacks in an attempt to destabilise the elected government. Afghanistan is certainly not a safe place to live.

Our military intervention elsewhere has been no more successful.

Iraq has a weak and factional government, and is under continued pressure from IS.

Libya has degenerated into a failed state where IS is able to operate with impunity. And besides these there is still a three- or four-sided civil war in Syria.

There are wars and conflicts in many parts of the world and it is not surprising that those who are able have sought refuge in Europe.

Mr Clarke may imagine that the Calais camps are populated solely by economic migrants, but he produces no evidence to substantiate that assertion.

I cannot help thinking that – if we were ever actually to get round to processing their applications – we would discover that many are indeed genuine refugees from war-torn countries.

CHRIS ROBINS
Foxdown Close, Kidlington