DEAR, oh dear! Still confusion and misinformation on the issue of refugees.

Ruth Purcell (Review, September 18) seems to think that elderly people are going to be told to take refugees into their own homes.

Nobody is saying this. It is merely that some kind-hearted people have volunteered to take them into theirs.

She points out that we have gone through a period of austerity and asks ‘how can taking in more people improve the situation?’

Ms Purcell, the aim is not to improve our own living standards but to help those who are is a much worse situation than ourselves.

She expresses sympathy for refugees but sympathy without practical help is of little use. This will cost money, at least in the short term.

However, ways can be found of ensuring that such short-term costs fall upon the broadest shoulders, not the poor and needy, not least by using charitable donations from the large number of British people who have offered their support.

I would add that, in the long run, taking in refugees may be to our benefit.

Many are well educated and well qualified and have the potential to make major contributions to the British economy.

Refugees may eventually return to their homelands as leading citizens and, as a result of their time in Britain, help to create democratic and peaceful states.

As for Ms Purcell’s view that there was some connection between immigration and the rise of the Nazis in 1930s Germany, I remain totally mystified – 1930s Germany was one of the most racially homogenous states in Europe.

UKIP’s Cllr Preest does start his letter with the valid point that several wealthy Gulf States need to do much more to take in refugees.

However, the fact that others are not doing enough is not an argument for us to do nothing.

He undermines his own attempt to appear reasonable by slinging around insults such as ‘tear-jerks’, ‘politically correct brigade’ and ‘misled left’.

In several letters to the Review I have argued for a calm, measured debate on these issues.

I am still waiting.

– Peter Strong, Caldicot.