Sir, – Fintan O'Toole is right that Karen Bradley's astonishing level of "ignorance" about Ireland is not "alas, outstanding" ("History of Ireland and England deserves better than egregious nonsense", Opinion & Analysis, May 7th).
Indeed, the claim by a British academic that “England . .. also included Wales and parts of Ireland” in 1707 is, for a professional historian, unforgivable.
However, the widespread amnesia in Britain about less palatable bits of its history is unlikely to be unique.
Other European powers with colonial pasts, for instance, Belgium, France and Spain, are equally likely to be slow to understand their former colonies’ places in their national stories.
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No one likes to be reminded of shameful interludes in otherwise “glorious” histories.
Your columnist pleads for “a minimal understanding” if British and Irish histories are “again to be bound together”.
But instead of futile hand-wringing, the best way to free ourselves from UK ignorance, while not simple and straightforward, is clear: a united Ireland at the heart of the EU. – Yours, etc,
JOE McCARTHY,
Arbour Hill,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole and Joan Kennedy are right to complain about the unapologetic ignorance of our history in England.
But are the Irish not equally ignorant of Scottish and Welsh history which has so many interesting parallels with our own? – Yours, etc,
CHARLES LYSAGHT,
Merrion,
Dublin 4.
Sir, – A pithy and accurate article by Fintan O’Toole.
I am studying on a postgraduate course at a university in the UK. A fellow student said, when I mentioned the Irish language in a lecture on bilingualism, “Oh, but that’s not a language, it’s a dialect”. – Yours, etc,
A LAWTON,
Sheffield,
England.
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole cites a book just published by one of the “most prestigious academic publishers in the English-speaking world”. According to your correspondent, the book is “very good” and “dazzlingly erudite”, but he elects to name neither the book nor its author.
What nonsense! What has happened to openness and transparency? Your columnist rightly castigates the work of the editor, copy editor and “independent experts” involved in the publication of the book, but what of the role of the editors and subeditors involved in the publication process of Fintan O’Toole’s article? How could they align themselves with a plot to keep the interested reader in the dark? – Yours, etc,
DICK REEVES,
Kilmacanogue,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.