Sir - Carole Roberts' letter (2.5.'14) merely demonstrates that, sadly, she is one of those people who reads and understands only what conforms with her prejudice. My letter of 22.4.'14 stated, unequivocally, that I am agnostic about immigration (although the Worcester News did choose to head it "Immigrants are good for the economy").

My clear meaning was that I do not obsess about immigration one way or the other, unlike some, overwhelmingly the antis.

Mrs. Roberts makes some astonishing claims, and the most elemental objective research (not into crazed propaganda, obviously) would show her just how silly her distortions and untruths are. To whom does she refer when she states that "it has been proven over and over again ..."?

Here are a couple of examples. An analysis from the London-based Centre for European Reform (yes - read its title again), found, last October, that the arrival of more than one million east Europeans since 2004, mainly from Poland and the Baltic States, has had a broadly positive impact on the UK economy. Another study, by experts at London's University College, concluded: "Rather than being a drain on welfare resources, immigrants arriving since the early 2000s have made substantial net contributions to its public finances,a reality that often contrasts starkly with the view often maintained in public debate" (for instance, by the likes of Mrs. Roberts and other well-known usual suspects on this page).

I am sorry that it be necessary to have to react in this way (I have, actually, never pro-acted), but I am even more sorry about the way that this discourse is being driven by innuendo, deceit and plain ignorance of hard evidence.

David Barlow

Worcester