School report
Sir: May I echo the protests with which Mr Roch van der Mensbrugghe (Letters, 7 March) of Brussels has been bombarding you regarding the piece by Boris Johnson (Tear and loathing in Antwerp', 1 Febru- ary) alleging that 'the Flemish collaborated enthusiastically in the deportation of the Antwerp Jews to the camps'?
One of the lazy clichés which we seem doomed to endure regarding the 'New Europe' is that the continent is suddenly replete with evil nations (Croats, Slovaks, the Flemish among others) who are eager to resume their supposedly genocidal strug- gles. You will no doubt understand that those survivors of the war years who risked their lives to save Jewish families, resist the Nazi occupier and aid the Allied cause find such simplistic English journalism distaste- ful.
Boris Johnson is an amusing, talented journalist who writes well about Belgium. 1 'm worried about the company you're keeping, Fiona.' hope that, unlike his former Classics tutors at Balliol, you will in future be successful in saving him from the folly of the rash gener- alisation. In the meantime, he would do well to learn from the example of his broth- er (a current History undergraduate at the college) whose respect for evidence and attention to detail is a credit to his tutor.
Martin Conway
Balliol College, Oxford
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