A chara, – The attempt made by Mary O'Dowd (August 6th) to argue that the removal of men from positions of power would end war, left me incredulous. As well as being a shameful trivialisation of the horror of war, it is an example of a kind of spurious and virulent reasoning which any rational feminist would surely distance herself from. When I concluded that it was actually written in earnest, I immediately thought of some lines from Crime and Punishment, in which Dostoyevsky writes of the character Svidrigaïlov: "He was one of those innumerable simpletons who become infatuated with new fleeting ideas – who, by their silliness, throw discredit on the cause they may be greatly infatuated with." – Is mise,
DR GARETH P KEELEY
Gneisenaustrasse,
Düsseldorf
Sir, – I have a two-word response to Mary O’Dowd: Margaret Thatcher. – Yours, etc,
PAT ROONEY,
St John’s Court,
Dublin 22