I have recently returned to the UK after living in France for several years and read your newspaper avidly to get my feet back under the table, as it were.
I have been amazed and horrified (and yet, in one way, gratified) at the vast amount of public money expended on the services and provision of interpreters. In France, everything is in French; the courts, the police, the health service.
If you don’t speak French, it is up to you, the individual, to take or find someone who does.
Shortly after my return to UK, I had an appointment at Papworth hospital.
There, prominently displayed in the waiting room, was an official notice in 17 languages. What an appalling waste.
How many people’s time and labour did that involve? And the NHS claims to be cutting down on waste.
One other niggle I have, as I scan the court notices, is the predominance of eastern European names that appear.
Is this because immigrants break the law more often, or because the police pick on them more?