Sir, - I refer to Mary Ryan's letter (April 8th) in which she took Kevin Myers to task for his less than kind remarks about John Pilger and fired a salvo of verbal cruise missiles. Judging from the intense volley returned by Kevin Myers (An Irishman's Diary, April 10th), this could turn into an intense, prolonged campaign.
In deference to the Geneva Convention, I would hope that Ms Ryan would refrain from further gaseous sorties against Mr Myers and that in return he would limit his oratorical strafing to trisyllabic calibre.
Having said that, escalation to a ground war could ensue if Ms Ryan orders her army of "immature, attention-seeking, adolescent male students" into the fray. It is unlikely, however, that they could carry the day as Mr Myers might call in the entire editorial staff of The Irish Times to bring down a barrage of stealthy split infinitives and cut through their ranks.
When General Sherman coined the phrase "war is hell", he must have had a premonition of this conflict. - Yours, etc.,
Edward D. Rafferty, Grogans Road, Wexford Town.