HAVING read The Northern Echo and HAS for 50 years, the most irritating letters I have read have been from Peter Winstanley.

Mr Winstanley stated in one of his latest rants (HAS, Dec 2) that this country could not function without immigration. Wrong. He seems to forget the late Forties and Fifties when bombed towns and cities like London, Hull, Coventry and others had to be rebuilt by an English and British workforce, not an immigrant workforce.

Chris Wardell gets some criticism for his letters to HAS.

Fair enough, but I favour him far, far, more than Mr Winstanley’s efforts.

Long may the excellent Harry Mead and the Rev Mullen continue their columns in the Northern Echo.

D Newton, Richmond.

IN my previous letter (HAS, Nov 25) I referred to reports from the Office for National Statistics and a warning from the British Chambers of Commerce. It is hardly sensible for David Sparks to dismiss them as “obscure titbits of anti-western information” (HAS Dec 2).

Regarding his concerns about “impoverished immigrants” and the poaching of skilled workers from abroad, I have long argued that the way to deal with the imbalance between immigration and emigration is not to try to close the door on immigrants, but to address global poverty and inequality by curbing the power of transnational corporations and establishing fairer systems of international trade and finance.

His suggestion that Britain has helped in “establishing and maintaining order in Iraq and Afghanistan” is laughable. These interventions have created nothing but chaos and conflict.

Some two million refugees have fled Iraq, mostly to neighbouring countries. Very few come to England, but do we not owe them a duty of care as victims of our disastrous foreign adventures?

Finally, it is telling that Dr Sparks has so little confidence in his own arguments that he is compelled to resort to bluster and rudeness.

Peter Winstanley, Durham.