25 APRIL 1987, Page 22

Ethnic?

Sir: As a third-generation Briton of Por- tuguese / Brazilian / Spanish / Welsh / Irish (not necessarily in that order) extraction, I ought to know from Bhaskar Mitra (Let- ters, 21 March) whether I qualify for his `Britain's ethnic community'. Also whether my son, who has all the above ethnicity plus that of Chinese and Malay, is so qualified. Alas I fear the answer will be: Me: No He: Yes So we ought to know what particular ethnic stereotypes Mr Mitra would impose on us.

Yours in puzzlement,

Paul Phenix,

D3, 4th Floor, University Heights, 42 Kotewall Road, Hong Kong