As a son of the “Parachute Padre”, the Very Rev Dr Fraser McLuskey, who was chaplain to the 1st SAS during the Second World War, I read with interest, and not a bit of emotion, the article “Unknown heroes who faced death behind Nazi lines keep their secrets” (News). Dad, like many of his brothers in arms, has now passed away and so will not be able to receive the somewhat belated Légion d’honneur being awarded. As he was a modest man I don’t think that would have bothered him.
What was really special to my father was the fellowship he and his comrades had long after their deeds of derring-do. As a small boy, I can still remember the stir in our Scottish manse when he was off to London – to one of what seemed very frequent reunions. Truly Dad and his friends were a band of brothers, brave but often self-effacing men who would just have said they were doing their duty.
The Rev Andrew McLuskey
Staines
One of those “bravest of the brave” in the Jedburgh teams was a remarkable man I had the privilege of calling a friend, who was eventually persuaded not only to talk but also to write about his experiences.
The funeral to which Tory MP Bob Stewart referred was that of wireless operator Harry Verlander and, poignantly, the coffin of this endearingly modest man also contained a copy of his book, My War in SOE: Behind Enemy Lines in France and Burma With the Special Operations Executive (Independent Books, 2010). Mere words can’t do the man, his comrades or his story justice, but his book is a wonderful memorial to him and to others.
Jenny Froude
Beckenham, Kent
Fewer babies may not be bad
The main thing that was wrong with your article “Europe needs many more of these to avert a depopulation disaster” (In Focus) was its title and the picture of a baby.
In a world with so many constraints on resources, static or reducing populations can be seen as a source of hope, not disaster. Humans have lived and flourished at lower populations densities throughout their existence.
The article provides valuable information and perspectives on demographic trends. It is important for us to be aware of them and to plan for them, but it is equally important not to jump to a conclusion about what that plan should be. Birth rates are one issue, but so is migration. Of course transitions can be painful and difficult; that is why we need to plan to reduce their unhappy effects.
“A perfect demographic storm” it may be, but let us see this as an opportunity to act within a bigger vision of human wellbeing.
Rosalind Dean
Sheffield
Don’t draw a line in the sand
As a regular visitor to both Lowestoft and Southwold, I found your article to be another attempt to denigrate Lowestoft as some dystopian Dismaland (“From Southwold to Lowestoft: how two resorts drifted apart”, News). Any article about Southwold is invariably an excuse to name-check the London literati.
Lowestoft’s stunning, blue flag beach is the jewel in Suffolk’s crown. You can’t compare a large town such as Lowestoft to a small place such as Southwold. It’s probable that Southwold’s population is made up of mainly retirees and seasonal visitors, so Lowestoft’s demography is not the same as Southwold’s, therefore it will have a wider range of social issues.
We often visit Southwold, especially enjoying its Electric Picture Palace, but in winter it can be a desolate place with its streets of numerous empty houses and holiday lets, soulless and devoid of normal life.
Richard Ellerker
St Ives, Cambs
Frackers threaten all I love
Your business pages contained a lengthy article headlined “The frackers are coming: who’s who in the race to strike it rich in Britain”. Sadly, this headline was wrong, as those of us resident in Cheshire and Lancashire know to our cost. The frackers aren’t coming at all. They are here; they are ensconced and the government is besotted with them. Fracking minister Amber Rudd is going all out to promote this disastrous practice that threatens our food, air, health and water and that is set to benefit a few people financially. They will profit from the destruction of my way of life, my livelihood and threaten the massive environmental successes made on my farm over the last 25 years with the help of many organisations, too numerous to mention individually.
Our successes include the return of otters to the river Gowy for the first time in living memory, the reintroduction of brown trout, not seen in the river since 1894, an increasing water vole population and the establishment of an award-winning herd of rare breed red poll cattle that is used for habitat management in the counties of Cheshire and Lancashire.
Justin Madders was elected as MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston in part because the Labour party locally defied the party nationally and opposed fracking. Chris Mathieson was elected in the city of Chester for the same reason. Anyone who has researched the fracking industry is against it. And anyone who wants to see what is at stake is welcome to visit me on my farm.
Huw Rowlands
Chester
