Sir - Do we get the society that we deserve? I ask because nowadays many openly criticise eastern European immigrants for supposedly taking jobs that could have been done by the indigenous populace. Poppycock!

Most of these supposed intruders work very hard and will work for longer although, in reality, they can work within legal maximum hours but produce much more due to an inherent higher work rate principle.

No, I am not saying that all are like this but the majority are. It's only after you think back to the 1950s and early 1960s do you realise that it is this work ethic that most of us once had.

We wanted to work hard because we were brought up to believe that we should always have a job, no matter what, and we worked hard to improve ourselves. It was socially and morally unacceptable to live off the state. I suspect that, since we joined the EU, laziness has infiltrated from national politicians to the rest of society.

Now we see South Korean builders, employed on short-term contracts, working much harder and even faster than the eastern Europeans and then returning home to support their families before returning the next year to satisfy both employers and customers alike.

So if we want to keep the best of our society we need to get out of the EU before reinstating a real work ethic.

Michael Heavey, Old Marston