I SHARE a lot of the concerns of your correspondents about Syrian refugees. But I disagree profoundly with many over what we should do.

I too am concerned about the pressure on hospitals, schools, GPs, and housing from a rising population. I too am concerned about extremist sleepers in a stream of refugees.

But I still believe that we must give Syrian refugees shelter. For overriding all my concerns is surely the moral imperative to help people who are in great distress. And many of these folk are in great distress.

In particular Syrian Christians (not all Syrians are Muslims) are in considerable danger if they fall into the hands of extremists.

We have always valued the lives and well-being of strangers. During WWII we looked after a great many people fleeing Hitler at a time when food and fuel were desperately short.

The countries bordering Syria put us to shame. Lebanon has a population of less than 5 million and is home to over a million Syrian refugees.

That would be like another 15,000/20,000 people coming to live in Redditch.

We shouldn’t just be taking a handful of refugees; we should be taking many more.

John Hardy Redditch