IT SEEMS to me that we English lack bottle, we allow half-educated bumptious morons to walk all over us.

The latest example of which I have heard concerns the feeding of our feathered kin at Boscombe Crescent.

It was brought to my notice by a friend at the town hall.

It is not illegal to feed the gulls etc, one is merely politely dissuaded from doing so.

However on the say so of one over-zealous, arrogant person with nothing better to do than throw their weight around, good natured folks whose joy it is to care for our wild avian friends are in danger of receiving anti social abatement orders and are threatened if they don’t comply.

Why do the authorities always seem to listen to the one horrid, wretched, nasty-minded informer and ignore the vast majority of innocent kindly citizens?

This is by the by how dictatorships function ie simply by neighbours telling tales – they are usually believed by those in power who get a buzz out of pushing us around.

The gulls etc are always hungry – if one puts scraps down every morsel is eaten within ten minutes.

They do not bring rats and there is no excess of food lying around.

A few mice live in the undergrowth, thats all, who are no harm to anyone and who have always been there attracted by the human waste in the overflowing bins.

Please don’t blame the birds and the decent caring folk who may from time to time feed them.

One should remember, the gulls have been here since before the human race existed and if and when humans have vanished from the planet the gulls will still be here.

Perhaps the gulls are closer to God than we are.

RODGER FLAMSTEED

Alyth Road, Winton