UFO Info Week-End

PLUMTREE London E7 Explicit pictures Sir: You report the titillating news that 15-year-old girls have been publishing explicit

PLUMTREE London E7 Explicit pictures Sir: You report the titillating news that 15-year-old girls have been publishing explicit photographs on the internet in exchange for free mobile-phone air-time (In Brief, 10 April). I am about the same age as Mr Khiami and I have been racially abused on several occasions (though never, I think, by a Muslim) and I’m white.Mr Khiami’s prepared reply about Christians murdering various peoples is somewhat selective and confuses race and religion in the same way that he laments in others. Perhaps he, as a Muslim, could enlighten the rest of us on how to resolve the contradictory messages Islam is giving the West; on the one hand we shouldn’t judge people by groups, but on the other hand some prominent Muslims are on record as saying that the West is immoral and needs to be conquered by Islam.K. It takes account of the fact that, for instance, we kill about 3,500 people per year (10 per day) on our roads; while Americans murder about 25,000 of each other per year (70 per day); and about 12 of us die per year putting on our socks. Life goes on – as it did in British, German and Japanese cities under daily bombardment, with thousands of casualties, a few decades ago.Above all, we should remember the great if obvious truth that life itself is a sexually transmitted condition which is 100 per cent fatal – and put al- Qa’ida firmly into perspective.ROGER MARTIN Wells, Somerset First-time racial abuse Sir: I am sorry that your correspondent Mazen Khiami (letter, 9 April) was racially abused for the first time recently, but I wonder in how many other countries he would have reached the age of 42 without being the object of a single case of racial abuse. Before issue, fingerprints and iris scans will be run against a UK database of millions to ensure an ID card has not already been issued to this person using another identity.

Imagine the queue at the airport.A holder of dual nationality may have different names on each, or different spelling of the same name on legitimate passports. Arabic, Indian, Chinese and other scripts do not readily translate into English. If we accept foreign ID cards or passports as proof of ID then these will need to be checked against a global database before allowing entry into the UK. Those without cards will be held at police stations until cards are forthcoming – and sometimes for longer.ID cards will do nothing to prevent terrorism or crime.

The day they come in forged ones will be manufactured and on sale, strengthening the hand of the malefactor who can show a card.There must be a readiness to point all this out, and oppose the cards.V TOWNLEY London N22Sir: A system of ID cards will only work if everyone, whether British national, an EU citizen, a foreigner with residency or a tourist, carries one.I assume that everyone entering the UK will need to have an ID card or passport carrying personal data. They shrugged: “We’re Heathrow; that was Gatwick.” A letter from the Home Secretary explaining her situation – and specially obtained by my MP – was not even needed.It was later that I learned that immigration law is open, but that immigration practice is secret. There was considered to be “pressure to emigrate” from Colombia, and my student’s professional status made her case worse, not better.My MP at the time was Michael Ancram, now chairman of the Conservative Party.MARINA DONALD Edinburgh Dangers for liberty of proposed ID cards Sir: On the issue of identity cards (letters, 10 April) several things must be considered. The conventional argument of “if you’ve done nothing wrong you don’t have to worry” is naive and misleading. Something “wrong” in the eyes of the government, police or even public opinion does not neccessarily mean something illegal; and even when it is illegal it will not just be what they think you’ve done, but what they think you might do.Skin colour, ethnic minority membership and youth are factors of high suspicion to the police and establishment; and it is black people, other ethnic groups, poor whites and young people who will overwhelmingly be ordered to produce cards.Even if the law does not initially state that cards must be carried at all times, this will inevitably follow later.