Sir, - In my opinion, Mr Myers was right to question Mr Francis Stuart's elevation to Soai of the Aosdana, in his column of October 24th. If Mr Samuel Beckett (a fellow recipient of this accolade) were alive today, he would surely repudiate this honour at once in protest at such a controversial appointment.
Furthermore, Mr Myers makes a valid point when he asserts that this award can have no real resonances within Irish contemporary life. However, when he postulates that the English would never indulge in similarly, quaint honorifics, I feel he is being somewhat invidious. The British Establishment annually confers on artists of renown titles such as Member of the British Empire, Order of the British Empire and Knight of the British Empire: titles which, in view of today's world order, must be regarded as equally bogus and irrelevant.
Yours, etc.,
Spencer Road, West Wimbledon, London 5W20 OQW.