• THE home office has announced that “an accommodation barge” in Portland Port, Dorset, will accommodate asylum seekers while their claims are processed.

This, interestingly and shockingly, recalls the 18th and 19th-century use of the prison ship, a “hulk”, used to imprison convicts, prisoners of war and civilian internees, formally passed into law in 1776.

The home office claims it is attempting to “reduce the unsustainable pressure” on the United Kingdom’s asylum system and “cut the cost to the taxpayer”.

However, as usual, they are unwilling to deal with the real causes of those crossings, and to humanely support those crossing the Channel, in the long term.

FRANCES RIFKIN, NW5