The Red Cross refugee camp at Sangatte was closed in December 2002, and in return 1,200 asylum seekers were brought to the UK and given renewable work permits, thus changing their status to economic migrants.

The Government assured us that they would all have jobs within three months. However, until recently none of those offered had appealed to them, a few tried fruit picking but gave it up.

These must be different asylum seekers to the ones your recent correspondent described as having valuable skills and longing to work.

It was a bit unfortunate that in the same edition of the adver, an Iraqi asylum seeker was convicted of stealing some beer in Swindon. How quickly he has been corrupted by the decadent west.

Still, I am sure those volunteers the lady mentioned will be queueing up to pay his fines, bless them!

J Utting

Swindon