Dear Log,
«The global figure for remittances [i.e., money that someone sends back to their family in their home country] should make western political parties think before they deny outsiders the access that can transform lives back home. At the end of the 1980s, the World Bank reckoned that $65bn in earnings by foreign workers went back to their countries of origin - about $20bn more than the sum of aid from wealthier to poorer countries. In 1998, the figure was $52.8bn, again significantly higher than official aid flows. Perhaps the time has come for liberal immigration and asylum policies?»
-- < a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,665242,00.html">a letter to the Guardian
