THIS year has proved that, if there's one issue which can always draw an opinion from vast swathes of the public, and will, it's asylum-seekers.

The summer was dominated by headlines and news footage of shadowy figures making their way to the Channel Tunnel under the cover of darkness.

The reaction they prompted was as wide as it was predictable. Every political view was heard, every emotion explored, questions asked which may never be answered. The issue never went away, though. It simply slid down the news agenda.

They've been brought back into focus by the discovery of 16 Afghanis climbing from the back of a lorry near Evesham.

That focus is made sharper by the season, of course.

But it prompts a thought that has come back to us on various occasions in the years since war in the Balkans brought the refugee problem to a height not witnessed in Europe since the war.

Imagine Worcester under the heel of a despotic regime, women made to cover themselves and denied education, minor miscreants beheaded on the square at New Road.

Within weeks, thousands of us would be looking for a way out. We'd be prepared to take huge risks to escape to a safe haven - and we'd be relying upon someone providing it.

If these people are from Kabul, then few of us know what they've been through.

It's a thought which doesn't answer the questions posed by asylum-seeking - but it is one which should make us pause for thought before adopting a "send them all back" tone.