Sir, - However well you think of John Hume (Editorial, December 30th), it does not follow that "if a comparable figure can be identified in these columns, 100 years from now, the people of 21st-century Ireland will have been fortunate indeed".
Hope instead that Ireland will not need a person of Hume's stature. It's a classic example of Brecht's maxim, "unhappy the land that needs heroes".- Yours, etc.,
Frank Desmond, Wricklemarsh Road, London SE3.