I’M glad that Adam Walker acknowledges that some “indigenous folk” enjoy Britain’s “vibrant and cosmopolitan culture” (HAS, July 6). I would go further, and suggest that most people do.

But, as he says, those who do not enjoy this aspect of Britishness don’t have to live in the more ethnically diverse areas of Britain. They could, for example, remain in Mr Walker’s home town of Spennymoor, which is more than 99 per cent white British.

It is curious that it is often people living in these overwhelmingly white areas who worry most about “ghettos” and “no-go areas”. One person, posting a comment on The Northern Echo website, was particularly worried about this issue, but admitted that he had never visited anywhere such as Leicester, Birmingham or Bradford, and would be too frightened to do so. If you are too scared to go there, how can you possibly know what it is like?

I do not suffer the Utopian delusions that Mr Walker supposes, but I do know from experience that the reality is not so scary, and I have enjoyed many visits to friends and relatives in Britain’s great multi-ethnic cities.

Pete Winstanley, Durham