Dear Editor,

As I was plied with glossy brochures and smooth talk at an ExxonMobil “consultation” in Wilberforce Hall, Brighstone, over the proposed CO2 pipeline across the Isle of Wight, I had an uncomfortable feeling of déja vu.

The expensive-looking glossy “gifts” from the Exxon representatives – none of whom came from the Island – reminded me of the carpet-baggers from Washington in the 1800s, who showered First Nation Americans with coloured beads and broken mirrors to blind them to the truth about their rapacious intentions for their lands.

In the wise words the chief of the Lakota Sioux, Red Cloud: “They made us many promises – more than I can remember – but they never kept but one: they promised to take our land and they took it.”

Mike Starke, Chale Green