I believe that many of our service industries, and also our agriculture, would be struggling for workers by now, were it not for this inflow of hard-working people from all over eastern Europe.

I do wonder about the lands they leave behind though; if we are acquiring a significant proportion of their best-educated and most-motivated workers then who is "minding the shop" back home? The cash they are sending back home will no doubt help, but it can't be good for any country to keep losing the cream of its workers. Not even if they come back later.

One of my Father's side of the family married a Pole just after WW2, he had got here as a refugee. He was unfailingly good-humoured, and kind, one of the small band of my relatives of whom I think well. To the end of his days (about 1997) however, his spoken English verged on the incomprehensible. I guess he was too busy making ends meet to be able to spend time learning yet another language.