The irony!

At the same time Hazel Blears wants to charge immigrants 50 quid extra for a visa, the Nottingham Racial Equality Council gets its knickers in a twist about a postmaster who refuses to serve people unless they speak English.

Here's the news: if immigrants were made to integrate by at the very least learning the language of their adopted country, there's a good chance they'd put much less of a strain on the services they use. Mr Kumarasiri has it right - but then again, if Ms Blears followed his example she'd have no excuse to get £50 from everybody coming, that she can then allocate to various councils to waste as they like.
If she's so keen on local people not feeling the burden of immigration, why not start with immigrants not holding up post office queues while the counter person tries to figure out what they need? And why not extend the same principle to every council and public office? And if she really wants to make a gesture and charge people, why not use that revenue to sign them up to English classes?

No, that would make too much sense.