Sleepy St Helena will never be a tourist trap
sir – As probably one of the few surviving past personnel of the St Helena Rifles, I share Andrew Mitchell’s enthusiasm for the future of this remote colonial outpost, some 1,500 miles from the nearest land (“St Helena’s airport is no white elephant”, Comment, May 15).
However, I believe that he’s rather overstating the general attraction of the island and the leisure activities he mentions. They are surely not sufficient to make St Helena a popular tourist destination – except, that is, for the French. Longwood House, where Napoleon died, and his first residence, Briars, together with the garrison buildings, will all be part of a unique experience for his compatriot descendants, as will Jacob’s Ladder – 365 steps leading from Jamestown up to the barracks.
The island and its residents deserve to be remembered and invested in, and its future will surely be best served by commercial business interests from France. Harold Franks
Woodford Green, Essex
sir – Andrew Mitchell’s tribute to St Helena sounds to me like an excuse for the Government spending £286 million on an island with only 4,000 residents. Has it ever spent that much on any village in Britain? Norman Baker
Tonbridge, Kent