Leave it out '“ Polesdoing nothing wrong

I am English and am proud of that. But I also realise we are all humans and, as such, should accept each other no matter what our colour, creed or beliefs.

It costs society on average 77,000 to bring someone from the cradle to working age.

These people arrive here and work straight away, saving us 77,000 per person.

And, no, they do not take the low-paid jobs and push English people out.

They actually work for the national minimum wage (NMW) in jobs the English wont take as they see the NMW as an insult.

I know this for a fact. I employ hundreds of people on a daily basis and I have a ratio of 15 Eastern Europeans walking through my door looking for work to two English people.

And of those, all the Eastern Europeans will work for the wage offered. Fifty per cent of the English will say: 'No, I'm not working for that much.'

These are the facts. And you can't argue with the facts.

So, Dr A Emerson, wake up and realise it is 2007. Stop living in the past.

If you insist on living in the past, why don't you write to the Scots or the Danes and have a go at them, as they have invaded us in the past?

Eastern Europeans do pay tax and, believe it or not, national insurance.

And to those critics, sit down now, as this will come as a shock....are you ready....they also have to pay 75 to register with the Home Office to work here.

And bringing in their own food '“ how dare they?

Does no-one here never eat anything English when they are abroad?

Ex-pats in Spain don't get English food, do they? Oh hang on a minute, yes they do.

I agree with Alfred Wibeth, we are not indebted to Poland. But to say Eastern Europeans live in highly- populated houses is rubbish.

I know '“ I have dealings with a large number of them on a daily basis and know many of them personally. One of the reasons they all may live in the same street is through fear of being vilified by narrow-minded individuals.

Wouldn't you hide away or stay with 'your own' if you were being unfairly singled out?

I, for one, welcome cultural diversity and I'm not scared of the future, which is why I don't live in the past.

Danny Dawes, Aldwick

I would like to respond to Dr Emerson's letter in last week's Observer. I am an ex-navigator with the Polish Air Force, and flew alongside the RAF.

Great Britain went into the Second World War because of the pact with France and Poland. It was a mutual pact of defence.

However, at the time while Poland was being invaded by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union, there was no military or material help given to Poles. They were completely on their own.

British troops did go to repulse Germans from Poland but it was on French soil.

Polish forces happened to be there, too, fighting against the common enemy. Yes, Dr Emerson, we did fight alongside British troops almost on all fronts of Europe, but where did it get us?

Remember Yalta? Was Poland not betrayed by Roosevelt and Churchill, which destined Poland to oppression and dominance by communist Soviet Union for well over 40 years?

We did not get help from you to liberate our country from the oppressor.

I am a result of that conference. Yes, we could return to our homeland, but to what? Persecution, definitely. Unemployment. Jail.

Returnees even experienced death sentences, as my father did '“ and all that just for fighting alongside our British friends.

So we stayed in Britain. Some of us married native girls and lived happily ever after to the benefit of ourselves and the country, too.

Our children are contributing to the enrichment of this country. I am very grateful and full of admiration for RAF and Commonwealth Air Forces, who flew bravely and gallantly, many of them sacrificing their young lives while delivering vital supplies to besieged Warsaw.

I strongly reject slurs regarding the treatment of the Jews in Poland. Polish people saved more Jews from death than anybody else.

Of course, there always are some black sheep in every society '“ who desecrated Jewish cemeteries in London?

What about those poor Jewish souls in the Channel Islands who were betrayed to Germans and sent to gas chambers? They were not Poles but British subjects.

As we know in every society there are those that commit horrible actions. Thank God there are only a few of them.

As for workers '“ how do you think you are getting cheap vegetables?

When you go shopping, do you ask if your vegetables, fruit or flowers were picked by British workers?

I doubt it. You buy them because they are there.

When you employ a builder, do you stipulate he has to be English?

You have to bear it or go without.

I remember once my English friend complained his son couldn't get a job because of Poles. I suggested he applied to the local horticultural establishment.

His answer was 'oh, but they pay only an agricultural rate of pay'.

For some inexplicable reason, Poles working there were quite happy.

Edward Machon,

Kyoto Court, Bognor Regis

The BNP followers try to convince us they have changed. But old habits die hard, it seems, as Mr Wibeth demonstrates with his remarks about Polish people being the first out of town if war broke out.

If memory serves me right, they were the first to roll up for the fight in 1940.

As for the debt we owe '“ the Poles could have stayed put, sensing the Nazis would win.

Instead they used every means to reach Britain so they could join us to fight fascism.

Their effectiveness is demonstrated by the fact they constituted one per cent of the pilots of Fighter Command (which had no '˜little Englander' rules about who could join, all nationalities were welcomed), but they produced 15 per cent of the kills.

None of those Poles who served alongside and with us ever doubted his debt to Britain.

Yet we do have to face up to the fact that, though we went to war to secure their freedom from Nazi aggression, Britain did not finish the job because we allowed Stalin's Soviet forces to overrun Poland, leaving them under Soviet tutelage for another 40 years.

In the end, it was their own efforts which led to the ending of occupation. And people like my father sacrificed their right to live in their own country, for he would have been killed had he returned, which is why he settled in America after the war.

Dr Emerson asks me how many British people gave their lives for Poland '“ no-one doubts the sacrifice of these men and women.

However, Dr Emerson seems to have no regard for the fact that of all nationalities in that war, the Poles suffered proportionately more than any nation, including the Russians.

He then points out Polish anti-semitism. No-one doubts it was a fact of life throughout Europe, including this country, as witnessed by the rise of the fascist Blackshirt movement which held rallies, indeed, in this very town.

If my understanding of Nick Griffin is accurate, he denies the Holocaust, dubbing it the '˜Holo-hoax', claiming it was allied propaganda.

Dr Emerson needs to answer this '“ does he stand with Mr Griffin, the BNP national leader, on this? Is he a Holocaust denier?

He interprets my comments that British people have not taken certain types of work as meaning they are lazy.

I did not say that, nor do I believe that to be the case. But it is the case that many will no longer accept the working conditions and rates of pay while Polish workers will. That is proof they are not taking jobs from British people.

Ms Bennett claims migrant workers do not pay tax. If she has proof, she should inform Inland Revenue.

As I understand it, local employers and staff agencies obtain temporary NI numbers for migrant workers and deduct tax by the PAYE system as the workers are paid, as provided by law. If this does not happen, the employers would be in breach.

Yes, she is right, many workers come for a short spell of a few months and then return to their home countries. Rather destroys the immigration argument, doesn't it?

The fact is the migrant population pays more in tax proportionately than the mainstream population, and takes less from the benefits and health systems.

But a small number will want to stay and raise families.

The people who sent my colleague a poison pen letter this week are nothing more than bullies.

Jan Cosgrove,

Leader, Arun District Labour Group,

Longford Road, Bognor Regis