PETER Yates (You Say, December 18) criticises Des Bradley's description of "England being the laughing stock of the world".
The clever use of percentages by Peter Yates perhaps hides last year's figures, as supplied by the United Nations, which shows that England is the most popular country of choice among refugees, with 92,000 applications and 52,000 being allowed to stay.
This an increase of 21 per cent over the year 2000 figures and, while the numbers for the rest of Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand become less, the figures for the UK are estimated to have increased in 2002.
The UN figures quite correctly include family members, whereas the Government and perhaps Peter Yates, in massage mode, choose only to count the head of each applicant family.
BRIAN HUNT, Worcester.
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