posted May 31, 2001 04:13 AM         

you may do comments/because of you live the environment.

Immigration and sense of identity

FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS UNION

Sir, Ludovic Kennedy (Comment, April 5) speaks of an “uneven population balance” and concern that “Anglo Saxon identity may one day be submerged in an ethnic majority sea”.
Quite which Britain he refers to I do not know. It’s certainly not the multi-ethnic, multi-racial nation that most of us see not as alien, but part of who we are, and something of which we’re deeply proud.

Yours faithfully,
MAT COAKLEY,
President, Cambridge University
Students Union,
11-12 Trumpington Street,
Cambridge CB2 1QA.
president@cusu.cam.ac.uk
April 5.

From Mr Clive Henderson

Sir, Ludovic Kennedy’s article on the importance of a sense of identity was a breath of fresh air.

I want myself, my family and my descendants to live in harmony with everyone in the British Isles. However, there is a rate and a limit for immigration to ensure harmonious integration.

I feel guilty asking the following question, even though an open discussion could remove a lot of unfounded fears: is Britain offering citizenship to every genuine asylum-seeker, no matter how many there are?

Yours faithfully,
CLIVE HENDERSON,
Minos House,
Naylors Road, Liverpool L27 2YA.
April 5.

From Mr Robin Howard

Sir, Both Mr John Townend, MP, and Sir Ludovic Kennedy err in supposing that our national identity is a static creature encapsulated in a time-warp and best preserved in aspic.

It is more truthfully to be likened to an ever-rolling stream fed by diverse tributaries of varying length and strength. Many races have contributed something of value in differing degrees to its sturdy growth.

Subject only to the necessity to avoid overcrowding, may the stream long continue so to be fed and thus continue to grow in strength and stature.

Yours faithfully,
ROBIN HOWARD,
New Timbers,
8 Upfield, Croydon CR0 5DP.
April 7.

From Mr Puvana Chandra

Sir, As an immigrant from Sri Lanka I found it disturbing to hear on BBC radio recently a request for more ethnic broadcasting stations for Africans or Asians in the UK. The BBC World Service is there to do that. Immigrants can already foster their own identity by means of British Gujarati or Tamil stations.

Once we come here we are British, not Asians, Indians or Africans, and should show that we care about this country, which has given us shelter and a home, and are sometimes more accepted here than in our country of birth.