Your letters: Asylum, politics and whinberry pie – plus a snowy picket line

Get asylum seekers to work

It has become patently obvious that the establishment has no solution to this issue, so here are my thoughts so far. Perhaps your readers might agree.

Firstly, those that come illegally on boats, having paid gangs of traffickers money to get here, for free healthcare, education, accommodation and all the benefits we take for granted, should be processed correctly. They should be issued with ID cards, photographed, fingerprinted and provided accommodation in Nightingale barracks near to work that is needed

to help defray the cost of their stay. Only those having new ID cards qualify for work, those without removed abroad where they came from. Remember, genuine asylum seekers should seek shelter in the first safe country, not be allowed to travel to the one offering a better outcome, such as ours. This would save hotel accommodation, mobile phone and pocket money we provide to our guests and they would then appreciate the costs incurred in order to house them. There is no such thing as a free lunch, someone has to pay, and the taxpayer is not responsible for illegals.

Someone once said that politics is the art of pulling the wool over voters eyes with promises that rarely materialise, how right they were.

Don't hold your breath.

Name and address supplied

Booklet shows up UK failures

If this doesn't demonstrate the catastrophic failure of successive governments, nothing will.

We are told that a booklet has been produced by the government (in God knows how many languages) to inform so called asylum seekers that in our culture we do no accept rape as the norm and that both sexes are treated equally.

Alan M Etheridge, West Midlands

Whinberry pie for anyone?

Traditionalists, Mr Kerswell probably included, may have in former times enjoyed a supper of roast red grouse served with a Tanner's Claret followed by a whinberry pie. However, the intensive management of upland moors for the benefit of a few sporting gentlemen are over.

Modern policy appears to support a managed landscape of nature recovery and regeneration. The days of controlled burning are declining as a result of scientific research. Climate change, and a recognition that draining the uplands was damaging, are now factors in an attempt to restore the upland reducing the risk of wildfires. But there is good news for Mr. Kerswell. Red grouse numbers appeared to be stable as they feed extensively on fresh heather shoots on Shropshire Hills. Whinberries can be foraged to make a pie for personal consumption where there dark, wild hedgerow fruit notes mirror those found in Tanners Claret. This is a truly local synergy: good health.

Roger Norton, Monkmoor

• You can enjoy other pictures from the past and more with our weekly FREE Nostalgia Newsletter - with scores of archive pictures and exclusive features on the history of Shropshire and Mid Wales - all sent to your inbox every week. Sign up here.

Have an opinion? We want to hear from you.

Share your views by writing to Readers’ Letters at [email protected].

Letters to the editor must include the writer’s name and address. Letters will only be published anonymously in exceptional circumstances. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity or style.

Do you have a picture from the past to share?

We would love to hear from you. Whether you have an old photograph, need help identifying a street or recognise a familiar face, send your images to [email protected].

Please include your name, where you are from and as much information as possible about the photograph. We will publish as many as we can online and in print.