An item from our local paper of 150 years ago reads: ‘… the ground around the premises becomes covered with the dangerous oxide [arsenic] as with a frost and vegetation is either checked or destroyed over a large area… the occupiers of the adjoining tenements being poor, and not knowing the law bearing on such a dangerous and intolerable nuisance, have submitted to the wrong patiently, until their property has lost half its value and they exist in an atmosphere of poison.’

How lucky our generation is in never having to look a client in the eye and say: ‘Yes, there is a law which would help you but I’m afraid you cannot afford it. The state will not help you and the case is too complex for the other promised sources of help to oblige you. Of course if you had money…’

It is not all Grayling’s fault. The profession stood and watched the decay over many years. Now it is too late for even the most determined and united action to be effective. Members of my generation will – or at least should – look back in shame as we retire.

Thurstan Hoskin, Thurstan Hoskin Solicitors, Redruth, Cornwall

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