I HOPE the people of York will think long and hard about the issues raised in "Seeking a real life in a safe land," as reported by Chris Titley (November 6).

In my view, the National Lottery Millennium Fund should not be awarding grants to finance propaganda to be placed in schools, and in the financing of teams of people being sent into schools, teaching children to "empathise" with "asylum seekers", as has also been reported.

Dr Frank Brogan claims that the words "bogus" and "illegal" should not be applied to this wave of refugees - but even David Blunkett admits that well over 80 per cent of them are exactly that. In London one in five children is "an asylum seeker." In my area the schools simply cannot cope with thousands of pupils speaking literally hundreds of languages.

Our once highly regarded borough has slipped to 146 out of 150 education authorities, and this saturation in our schools is a factor.

Many of these people have also imported gang warfare over "turf" and guns being used over prostitution and drugs revenues.

I grew up in York, and know that the people are warm and welcoming - but they should think carefully before being pressured into accepting thousands of "asylum seekers" into the city.

Carole Tucker,

Hillside Gardens,

Highgate, London.

Updated: 10:39 Wednesday, November 12, 2003