The conversation has moved on a bit since I last posted, but I'd like to put this in. From an article in the Times about Elena Baltacha, the Ukrainian born, British tennis player.
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It is worth stating, if only in passing, that this work ethic and love of Britain are the norm among eastern European immigrants. This truth has, at times in recent weeks, been obscured by the focus on a tiny number of Romanians involved with criminal gangs. One study found that eastern European immigrants contributed 37 per cent more in taxes than the cost of public services they consumed. Baltacha was, in that sense, representative of a demographic that, according to many testimonies over recent days, has come to feel rather embattled.