YORK'S first citizenship ceremony takes place tomorrow. It will be a significant moment.

We hope the two people taking part already feel at home and will enjoy becoming part of our city's history.

York has long been shaped by its incomers. The modern city is built upon the railways and the visitors they propelled here.

It is fun to speculate how today's innovation might have influenced the past.

We can't help feeling that a lot of nastiness might have been avoided if Erik Bloodaxe had sworn loyalty to his new home, and pledged to "uphold its democratic values".

Updated: 10:44 Wednesday, April 14, 2004