THE most powerful photographs can change the course of history – and that may well prove to be the case with the heartbreaking images of a little boy found dead on a Turkish beach after his parents tried to escape from Syria.

In response to a question from The Northern Echo during today's Hitachi factory opening in the North-East, Prime Minister David Cameron spoke of his sadness at seeing the pictures which symbolise the immense human tragedy which is unfolding.

There are times when it is right to castigate political leaders but there are also times when we should empathise with the difficult decisions they have to make. In this instance, Mr Cameron will be damned whatever action he takes. Allow the migrants into Britain, and he will be condemned for being soft on immigration. Stop them from finding a haven in this country, and he will have deaths on his conscience.

But there is a difference between economic migrants and those who are fleeing for their lives from a country overrun by the savages of Islamic State.

Britain has a proud record of taking in the world's most desperate people and we simply cannot sit back and allow people to die amid Europe's biggest movement of refugees since the Second World War.

Of course, it is far from easy to identify the genuine asylum-seekers but the crisis demands that we find the resources to act in a humane way to help those in the most need.

The burden has to be spread across all of Europe and, in this country, every town should play its part – as Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said.

Would it be too much to ask for towns such as Darlington, Stockton, and Durham to take ten of these families who are so desperate to flee the horror of their homeland that they are prepared to risk their lives?