From the scrapbook: Beetles, bushes & foreign policy

Beetle away

I was 12 years old when our house in the countryside in South America was attacked by strange beetles. We realised they had already done serious damage before we found them. We turned the house upside down and killed them all. Peace. Six months later they came back. We had to do the whole thing again. The third time it happened, we found where they came from and destroyed all their eggs. Peace again. One year later, they attacked us again – so we brought an expert to advise us. “These beetles live off a certain type of plant which you and your neighbours have destroyed in the whole area,” he-said. “Stop destroying those bushes. Better still: plant as many new ones as you can to compensate for what you have destroyed.”

So we did. The attacks stopped and my family lived for three more decades in the same place, in peace. We learned a lesson I would advise western governments to put in practice vis a vis their foreign policy. I guarantee they will go to bed in peace for the rest of their lives.

Claudio Solano
London