“Traitors” to United Europe

Dear Sir, IN most of the countries I am familiar with, people like John Rule, (Letters to the Editor, 20 December) who protest about the favourable treatment of immigrants, are called racists. Even the new leader of the Tory party (not previously noted for its encouragement of immigration) seems to be anxious to get rid of his party's hardline image and has called on Britons to “take asylum seekers to our hearts.” I find it very sad that not a few of my fellow countrymen have no compassion for their less well off fellow Europeans. As Ray Fleming points out in the same edition of your newspaper, Spain has benefitted enormously from EU membership and now it is the turn of the East European countries. After the setbacks of the votes against the European constitution, Tony Blair, with some help from his “old” European allies, has put Europe back on its feet again and is to be congratulated for bringing about what seemed to me like a miracle. Isn't it people like Mr Rule who are the “traitors”, “traitors” to the idea of a United Europe, which has been the aim of so many of us, since the dark days of the 1940s? J Finlay Walls, in his letter headed “Sinking to a new low” (letters, Tuesday), expresses the feelings of amazement and disgust which are engendered in people in Majorca and abroad by the crazy antics of the local council. They have already threatened to remove another Puerto de Soller landmark, the old lighthouse, on the basis that it was threatened with demolition by the sea. The fishermens' building and the Sa Llotja de Peix restaurant are being swept away to facilitate access to the new developments and now they want to demolish the old barracks which have been a feature of Puerto de Soller as long as any of us can remember, rather than rehabilitate them with an unaltered exterior. During my visit in September I was able to get into part of the building (past an unnecessarily officious worker) and the interior, whilst rather dilapidated, looked structurally sound. Who can blame the people of Majorca for wanting the trappings of so–called civilisation which we British enjoy but I hope they will do so in a way which preserves the things which the tourists (who I believe are the main source of Majorca's income) have come to love.