Discrimination
Sir: I recently advised a student to apply for the Civil Service, and was incredulous when he told me that he was debarred from several departments because his parents were naturalised British citizens of Polish origin.
I have since discovered that applicants for senior posts in several Ministries, including Technology, Public Works and Defence, must have parents who were born in the UK. The rule can be relaxed in individual cases by the Minister, but surely no one with any self-respect, or without 'influence' would apply for such a dispensation.
I suppose the idea is that the son or daughter of someone born in Cracow or Calcutta would be more inclined to hand over plans to the Russians, but the list of famous British traitors does not support this belief.
As it happens, I have an impeccable ux ancestry, support the Labour-Conservative consensus on restricting immigration, and doubt the wisdom of prosecuting people for advertising for Scots cooks, but this kind of official discrimination makes my hackles rise.
Graham Hallett Department of Economics, University Col- lege of South Wales and Monmouthshire
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