Of course there is racism in the UK; far too much of it, though certainly less than in many other places, whatever Rude Filbert may think.  (Wouldn't it be better if people who think they are important enough to make offensive remarks were to have the courage to use their real names?)

Whatever the situation may have been in the past, there's hardly a country in the industrialised world that doesn't try to exclude economic migrants nowadays, and to be fair, the Chinese migrants who died at Dover wound up in that container lorry because they were misled and betrayed by the Chinese gangsters who took their money, promising them a better life in Europe.  The legal barriers around this island are no more stringent than those around most other EEC nations, and very little can be done about the geographical barriers.

I don't believe for a moment, incidentally, that immigration threatens English traditions; of course there will be a few examples of over-careful schools being silly about (religious) observances, but they are a small minority for which I don't think Government can be blamed.  As McGrath says, immigration has more usually resulted in an enrichment of tradition, though it tends to take a generation or two before immigrant groups integrate sufficiently for the population as a whole to become aware of, and to accept, their traditions; historically, the larger an immigrant group is, the longer it is likely to remain discrete and therefore sometimes perceived as a threat.  Attempting to hurry this process will inevitably result in misunderstandings, but I don't really see an alternative if children from cultural minorities are to get an appropriate education -i.e. one which takes due account of their various cultural backgrounds as well as those of the host nation- in State schools. Please note that when I speak of integration I am not talking about assimilation, although that is what has generally happened to immigrant communities here in the past.  There is, of course, nobody at all living in these islands who does not have immigrant ancestors; "the English" (though I dislike that blanket term, probably because it is so often used to criticise) are the most mongrel race in Europe, and all the better for it to my mind.  Postwar immigration has been on an unprecedented scale, which can be frightening for some, particularly those who are to an extent marginalised by poverty or lack of education; though I deplore the racism that can sometimes result from this fear, I nevertheless recognise the concerns -real or imagined- which give rise to it.  Understanding a problem is a necessary first step to dealing with it.

Malcolm