Madam, - It has to be asked: is Irish Republicanism in its modern Sinn Féin/IRA manifestation a mental condition? What else can explain apparently normal people deserting a bland yet democratic party such as the SDLP to vote in droves for a party they know has links to violence and gangsterism; furthermore, a party that in its time has allied itself with Nazism and any other despotic regime you care to mention, provided it was anti-British?
It is also a party whose not inconsiderable accomplishments include the hoodwinking of US presidents and British and Irish prime ministers, the copper-fastening of partition, the debasement of the once honourable word "republican", and the reduction of the Irish language and flag to sectarian emblems (much as Paisley did with the Union Jack). And to cap it all it is now demanding to take its place in a British assembly at Stormont - a situation on offer 30 years and 3,000 deaths ago!
But you in the South please note: the condition is contagious. And its with you already. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN ROONEY, Belfast 15