Letter: Charity ends at home

Sir: As a British citizen living in Germany, I am outraged by our government's lack of humanity in its attitude towards the refugees from Bosnia. The Germans have expressed their moral indignation in concrete form by taking in thousands of people, and one would have hoped that we, who have always prided ourselves on our willingness to help those in a far less fortunate position than ourselves, would have followed suit. It is all very well to make the excuse that one should not 'uproot' people; this particular tragedy has gone much further - they have already been uprooted.

On a very recent visit to England, it seemed to me that many British people also feel that more help should be forthcoming. Must one assume, then, that we are in the hands of a government that has lost all touch with the basic maxims of Christianity, and indeed of all world religions? 'For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. . . .'

Yours faithfully,

JANE WILDE

Langenhagen, Germany