IN response to to Ruth Bradley's letter on oriental and East European "asylum seekers" seen in York (Letters, March 5), why does she think these people are asylum seekers?
There is a large number of "oriental" people in the catering industry, many of these are second or third generation immigrants.
There are many more doing wonderful work as trained nurses in our hospitals and care homes. We, as a nation, are always complaining of staff shortages in these establishments.
The situation would be far worse without our "oriental" nurses who are always very caring and polite.
Maybe the people Ruth Bradley saw were having a well-deserved day off and meeting friends.
AE Hope,
Acaster Lane,
Bishopthorpe, York.
...RUTH Bradley seems to be suffering from some form of paranoia. I have visited Eastern Europe many times but I would have difficulty identifying East Europeans just by passing them in the streets of York.
As for the orientals, I really can't say I've noticed a "significant number" of them. There are some admittedly but, contrary to Ruth Bradley's claims, many seem to be Japanese tourists. There are other orientals and many are university students.
Contrary to popular belief, asylum-seekers are better educated and have more marketable skills than average and they are much more likely than native Britons to be either professionals or self-employed.
They are only too willing to work in most cases, which is more than can be said for many of the ill-educated yobs who speak out the loudest against them.
Asylum-seekers are not allowed to work while awaiting immigration decisions and receive less in benefits than unemployed British workers - once again this is contrary to popular belief.
Of course there are limits to how many refugees any nation can cope with.
But the UK is far from being at breaking point, despite what the Daily Mail may tell you, and York, which has an ethnic minority population of one per cent, certainly does not have a problem.
Richard Brown,
Horseman Avenue,
York.
Updated: 11:16 Wednesday, March 10, 2004
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