Migrant deal for Bayeux Tapestry? What a stitch-up!

Write to: Daily Mail Letters, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT email: letters@dailymail.co.uk

THE French will allow Britain to borrow the Bayeux Tapestry now the Prime Minister has capitulated to their financial demands by agreeing to pay £45 million to beef up security at Calais (Mail).

Our taxes have put millions into securing this area over the years, so by coming back for more, they are taking us for mugs.

But one of the stipulations for borrowing the tapestry could be that we would have to foot the bill to restore it.

French President Macron claims Calais needs the money to stop it becoming a back door for illegal immigrants to enter the UK, but the real back door will be not having a hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland.

How tempting to accept the tapestry, restore it and then keep it. France is hardly going to invade us. Let’s get embroidering!

A. J. SMITH, March, Cambs.

Calais chaos

THE chaos at Calais is fuelled by the Schengen Agreement, which forbids internal passport checks between members. France is a member; the UK is not.

Yet Theresa May mollifies President Macron by funding security at Calais and taking more migrants, all to ensure France is nice to us in trade negotiations.

NICK o’GoRMAN, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey. AGREEING to admit more immigrants from France as part of a border control deal will inevitably encourage yet more migrants.

JoHN BRAITHWAITE, Leominster, Herefordshire. IF PRESIDENT Macron really is prepared to help the UK secure a decent deal, then £45 million is not a bad price, provided the migrants we take are genuine refugees.

DAVID EDWARDS, Leighton Buzzard, Beds. WHY are there unaccompanied minors in camps around Calais and other Channel ports?

Does France not have social services of its own? Or is this just an example of one EU country passing on a problem to another?

St JoHN CoX, Taunton, Somerset. NOT only are we incapable of controlling our own borders, we are having to pay France because it can’t control its borders.

DAVID SKELToN, Goole, E. Yorks. OUR hearts are open to you ... borrow our tapestry! I’ll believe all that blarney when Germany lets us win a penalty shootout.

R. J. SEBIRE, Vale, Guernsey. WHY would we want a memorial to our greatest defeat of the past thousand years?

DIGBY HARPER, Benson, oxon.

Paper-thin plan

WHILE welcoming calls to reduce the use of plastic, replacing it with paper is not the answer. You would need seven lorry loads of paper bags to replace one lorry load of plastic bags.

Not long ago, you couldn’t give away paper for recycling. This will only be an effective solution if councils and industrial waste collectors make it a priority. BILL HoDGES, Eynesbury, Cambs.

Trumped by tests

I HAVE taken the same cognitive tests as Donald Trump. From the age of 17, I’ve belonged to Mensa, but due to dyspraxia, I struggle to draw a cube.

Someone who is intelligent, but with working memory problems, would do poorly at remembering several numbers in reverse, while someone with a low IQ with no specific learning difficulty might be able to do well.

PAM DoBSoN, Welwyn Garden City, Herts. SHAME on those who have mocked the cognitive tests taken by President Trump (Mail).

These are standard questions if dementia or Alzheimer’s is suspected. Anyone who, like me when my late husband was diagnosed, has been with a loved one who struggled with those questions and realised the enormity and humiliation of the outcome if they failed, would not be so quick to criticise.

L. PETERS, Lamberhurst, Kent. MY FIVE-YEAR-OLD niece could pass the cognitive test Donald Trump claims shows he is a genius. She might need prompting on what date it is, but she knows her address and phone number, and could not only identify all the animals, but do pretty convincing noises for them all.

Like the present White House incumbent, she might not appreciate the responsibilities of leading the free world, but she is a much nicer person and would make a much better president.

M. BRADLEY, Hampton, Middlesex. MY MOTHER took the same test and, like Donald Trump, scored 30 out of 30, twice. She was then diagnosed with dementia. LINDA LIGHTFooT, Chichester, W. Sussex.

Elusive jab

SHOULD you pay £ 70 for a pneumonia jab (Good Health)? The conclusion was that it’s a worthwhile investment for those who don’t qualify on the NHS.

I phoned Boots and was told they do not provide this service. I rang my GP and was told only those with a health risk such as diabetes could have the jab. As I was registered as a patient with them, they were not allowed to charge me. I contacted another practice and was turned down again because I was not considered to be at risk.

Why do so few people get this jab? Because you can’t get it even if you are willing to pay. HoWARD DouGALL,

Shipham, Somerset.

Natural wonders

IS A yellow wallflower in bud among the January snowdrops a record (Letters)?

I planted my wallflowers in September and they flowered in October and have not stopped. In Jersey, just after Christmas, the daffodil harvest is in full swing.

Nature does not have a calendar, but reacts to the right conditions, which is what makes it wonderful.

DAVID DAVIES, Chandler’s Ford, Hants.