I am a citizen of N Ireland and like the rest of the UK are getting a lot of Polish imigrants.Its not unusual for these people to be petrol bombed at night out of their home's graffiti painted on their houses and told where to go.Some of the remarks made about them are bloody awful which i detest The vast majority of these people are hard working and only here to do the jobs that the locals wont do .I welcome here with open arms and hope to learn a little about their culture.

James Gough, dublin, N Ireland

As a very young Scottish (Episcopal) man, I had moved down to Birmingham in the early seventies, and had made a telephone call in response to a house for rent newspaper ad. "Are you English?" demanded a stern voice. "Scottish," I replied. "It's just gone," she intoned, loftily.

I recall many football games in Glasgow where half the stadium waved Irish Republic tricolour flags, and the other half waved British union flags. If Scotland is lucky, the children of Polish and other new immigrants will grow up wanting to wave Saltires.

Nigel Nicholson, Havre de Grace, Maryland

Not only English Catholics were less than overjoyed by the Irish influx; the Irish suffered bitter and widespread discrimination which drove them into ghettos and left little desire to attempt a wider participation in the life of the host country. As late as 1958 I remember the shock of reading To Let notices in London which proclaimed "No dogs. No Irish."

I hope your article will contribute to the necessary wider understanding which may lead to a more tolerant welcome for today's new fellow European immigrants. The Catholic Church, of both English and Irish extractions, has a major role to play in achieving this.

Marcus Duignan, Forksville, Pennsylvania

The problem with integrating Ireland's Catholics is that they brought with them a lot of negative history regarding England. The Irish uprising and ultimately the departure of Eire from the Union added to the sense of alienation. This has been exacerbated by the armed struggle of the IRA in Ullster for the past forty years or more. The Poles by contrast have no negative history with the British. On the contrary: we went to war with Germany in 1939 on their behalf. I am sure they will find it easier to settle here as, indeed, many Poles have in the USA.

Adrian Gilbert, Tonbridge, England

I am very grateful to the author and the commentators of this article for sharing their positive view of Polish immigrants, and for their understanding of the scale of social obstacles that this group (like the immigrant Irish a century or so ago) will have to deal with.
It is interesting to see how Poles are at the center of the intraeuropean immigration debate, although they are just one of many groups coming to the UK (and enriching the Catholic communion, like the first commentator accurately pointed out).
I do wish, however, that more Poles would be in a position to make an intellectually salient contribution to this debate. At this point they risk being left out of it altogether. They are, after all, the ones who are being described, and not the ones, whose voices are heard (aside from the occasional quote). But do the British want to hear Polish voices in the UK? Or for that matter, would such voices be relevant elsewhere in Europe?

Marcin Polkowski, Warsaw, Poland

Please welcome the catholics from southern Indian state of Kerala.
They are equally religious.

kjs, Delhi, India

More importantly, will the English learn to receive the Catholic Poles with more civility than that with which the Irish were received? Anti-Irish prejudice was endemic in Britain in the 1800s and into the 1900s so it was no wonder that the Irish immigrants had difficulty showing any love for their adopted country of residence.
Moreover, the Irish until 1922 were not immigrants as such, but were migrants as Ireland was then part of the United Kingdom. Given the poor welcome the Irish received, they do not seem to have been treated as fellow citizens by the English. Let's hope that the Polish have a little more luck and don't have to battle with racism and sectarianism like the Irish did.

M Brodie, Edinburgh,

I believe that the recent influx of Polish people into this country is to be welcomed. My experience of Polish people goes back to 1960 when, as a 16year old I was asked to work for a Polish architect. He was getting on in years. He was honest, friendly and of high intellect. He left Poland during the war with nothing but the clothes on his back. He rebuilt his life in England from scratch. He was not bitter and never critical, not even of those from whom he fled. He never preached about religion but it was obvious from where his strength came. He was a Catholic. Maybe I have been lucky or naive but all of the Poles I have met have been a credit to their country. As a whole they are a god-fearing people who with culture. Compared with some of the nationalities that have descended on this country they are a God-send. They should be welcomed for their potential to re-invigorate this nation. I am not Polish, don't currently have any Polish friends and I am a lapsed Catholic.

Norman Wilkins, Orpington, England