Sir,- Dr Paul Burgess (Opinion and Analysis, February 11th) is right to draw attention to urban/rural, class and other differences within the Ulster unionist/loyalist community. Arguably, identities focusing on the environment and class, not to mention, gender, sexuality, disability etc., are becoming increasingly salient for political behaviour, even in Northern Ireland. Class especially, has been an important mobilising factor in the emergence of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP).
However, the two traditions' model of communal identity in Northern Ireland, based on the Ulster unionist/loyalist, Irish nationalist/republican cleavage, quite obviously persists because "over-simplistic" ethnonational identity tops the hierarchical scale of collective identity. Hence, the PUP is not a party for the working-class, it is a party for the Protestant working-class. - Yours, etc.,
Dr CATHAL McCALL,
Institute of Governance,
Queen's University,
Belfast.