Like another correspondent who wished to remain nameless (“Why try to get around the law”, June 10), I too am disturbed at the idea of Barnet acquiring another eruv, as the religious boundary of an area intended to facilitate Orthodox Jews’ observance of the sabbath is called.

However, rather than appeal to Barnet Council to refuse planning permission for this project when in the past two decades it had, under the existing criteria, given the go-ahead on two previous occasions, I would beseech the applicants themselves to tread wearily before proceeding.

Not least thanks to these developments, the borough of Barnet now is noted not only for a larger Jewish population, but also a consistently higher number of anti-Semitic incidents than any other in the country. However regrettable, this is, in my view, no coincidence. How else to explain something not confined to one religious or ethnic community only?

Why then tempt providence further and possibly ask for more trouble still. This is itself not, as routinely alleged, being anti-Semitic. The reverse is the case. People do themselves no favours by taking even inconspicuous and designedly innocuous steps that ultimately help endanger their own security.

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