What an excellent piece by Emmanuel Carrère (Don’t mention the ‘Jungle’, 20 April). He might have made another point, laden with irony. The lace-making industry in the Calais district of Saint-Pierre, to which he refers, was founded, and largely manned, after the Napoleonic wars by economic migrants from Nottinghamshire and neighbouring counties. Furthermore, by 1840 the number of Brits living in Calais was on a scale comparable to “the Jungle” today. Many were economic migrants of another sort: runaway debtors seeking, and finding, refuge from their creditors. Proximity to the UK has been a mixed blessing for the town. If our policymakers have any conscience at all it is a story they should be aware of. They can read about it in my forthcoming book Gone to the Continent: the British in Calais, 1760-1860.
Martin Brayne
Chinley, Derbyshire
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