I AM an immigrant who has been living in the Forest for a number of years. I play a full and active role in my community (whenever my full time work allows), get on well with my neighbours, have good friends and use the services that my taxes help fund.

I have lived in various places in the UK and have hardly ever met any other community that is more welcoming than what we have in the Forest. It is therefore of grave  concern to me to see UKIP members and their lackeys trying to stir up anti-immigrant hatred amongst the good folk of the Forest by peddling myths and highly distorted and dubious stories about individual cases of wrong doings by a minority of immigrants. A quick investigation would show any fair-minded and intelligent person that these stories are largely made up by people with specific ideology to cause "fear of the other" in all of us and cause tensions in our communities.

 A good illustration of the point I am making is the letter published in your October 7 issue signed by "A Forester" who likes to hide behind anonymity. The letter starts by talking about the "safety of our streets" and goes on to talk about the "immigration" problem as if the two are by nature related and inseparable. 'Anonymous' talks about gun crimes, suicide bombs, etc trying to show how the increase in the number of immigrants has brought about a rise in gun and violent crimes.

There is no mention, by this 'Anonymous' of the other side of the story – the contribution of immigrants to the economy and culture of Britain.

But a few facts should expose the ignorance of these 'Little Englanders'. In a study about ethnicity and entrepreneurial spirit in the UK, The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) concludes that "Total Entrepreneurial Activity is highest amongst Bangladeshi people. They exhibit the most positive attitudes and perceptions of entrepreneurship."  And "Pakistani people are quick to see opportunities (for setting up business) and have a very low fear of failure rate."... "Indians (43.6 per cent) and other Asians (48.1 per cent) are the most likely groups to be providing a service using new technology. The comparative figure for  White businesses is 14.1 per cent." and "women from ethnic minorities are substantially more entrepreneurial than their white female counterparts."

Partly because of all this, "The British Muslim community contributes more than £31 billion to the country's economy each year."

Mr/Ms Anonymous does not mention this but suggests, instead, that the £520 million that the Pakistani community supposedly sends home in a year is a drain on UK economy. Well, why not talk about the £20-£30 billion that British tourists spend abroad each year? Why not forbid all UK citizens from foreign travel in order to benefit our economy? How ironic that 'Anonymous' calls Mr Elsmore's sensible comments laughable!! 

 As for crime, an official Home office study about crime and ethnicity in Britain concludes that "White males aged from 10 to 25 were far more likely to have committed an offence in the last year compared with young males in other ethnic groups (28 per cent compared with 12 per cent to 19 per cent in the other groups). Fewer differences were apparent for older males and younger and older females. Those of Asian origin were consistently less likely to have offended."

So UKIP, English Defence League and all other scare-mongers should stop treating the general public as a stupid bunch who will buy all their half truths. We know that immigrants are not the root cause of all the ills of this country.

In fact, if these scare mongers had any sense of fairness, they would instead tell the whole truth and admit that immigrants are, and have always been, a part of a solution to the problems of this country and not the problem itself. Just look at the mass migration in post war Britain which solved the acute labour shortages and kept Britain on its feet.

– Siamak Alimi, Coalway.