Rowland Pantling (May 19) writes about his experience of the debate on the EU held in Marlborough College. I wasn’t there but was struck by the tenor of Mr Pantling’s letter.
He writes that Laura Sandys, who spoke for the ‘remain’ side “dismissed mass immigration as irrelevant and is therefore happy for the indigenous population to be diluted to the point where the nation no longer exists”.
One can’t help but wonder what world Mr Pantling inhabits. I wonder what his definition of the indigenous population would be? And for that matter what a non-existent nation would look like?
Surely we are a nation of immigrants with every country in the world represented on our island. And surely we are the richer for it with so many of the immigrants contributing to our NHS, social services, our schools, our transport system, our business and social life. London, for a start, is reckoned to be the sixth largest French city.
Surely we should celebrate the diversity of our country and the message that that conveys, namely that we are perceived to be a country that has a long history of welcoming people from other cultures and faiths, not least those that are fleeing oppression and conflict, the like of which most of us will never have experienced. Long may that perception continue and be justified!
NICK MAURICE, London Road, Marlborough
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