IT would seem from recent commentary that the race issue is likely to feature when the General Election campaign eventually get under way.

I cannot help feeling that there is an element of misunderstanding regarding racial issues and I wonder what other readers feel?

I am not racially prejudiced - as a Christian I believe that the one true God created all men and women equal regardless of race, colour or creed.

However, it is a fact of life that we are different within our equality and I was annoyed by Robin Cook's comment that there is no such race as the British.

Of course there is - the people of England, Scotland and Wales are the British people and within our own differences we live side by side together (to prevent unnecessary replies, may I point out that Northern Ireland is simply part of the United Kingdom - not Great Britain).

Here lies the problem with many immigrants as identified by C Wood (Letters, April 19).

If immigrants want to come to Britain then they are welcome as far as I am concerned.

But I do not think it is right or indeed fair for immigrants to come to Britain and then set themselves aside within their own communities.

They should integrate into our society - after all if they don't want to live the British way then why did they come here in the first place?

Norman Tebbit hit the nail on the head with his famous comment about passing the cricket test. How often do we see so-called British people watching a Test match with half of the crowd cheering with delight as England get stuffed yet again?

Surely the least we can expect from immigrants who claim to be British is support for our national cricket team. Heaven knows they need it!

Tony Taylor,

Grassholme,

Woodthorpe,

York.

Updated: 11:07 Tuesday, April 24, 2001