Sir, – Newton Emerson maintains that for people of his generation Northern Ireland was as British as Finchley ("I do not feel Irish in the slightest", Opinion & Analysis, September 13th).
He seems to be basing this, oddly one might think, on three years spent at university in Yorkshire. The Brexit referendum results will tell him that not even Yorkshire is as British as it once was; nor is Finchley. Thatcherism has seen to that.
But if Northern Ireland is as “British” as Finchley, it follows that Finchley is as “British” as Northern Ireland.
I can only say that as someone who spent quite a number of years growing up in London, I never heard anyone call Finchley the “Northern Ireland of the mainland”.
Nor, under Mrs Thatcher, was Northern Ireland like Finchley. Northern Ireland was the only part of the United Kingdom that did not suffer the stringent cuts to education and social housing that were part and parcel of her mainland policies. For much of the Troubles, much of Newton Emerson’s early life, Northern Ireland was the only Keynesian redoubt in the UK.
A great many Northern Irish students who went to university on the mainland during those years did not go back to Northern Ireland. There was a brain drain, precisely because Northern Ireland was nothing like mainland Britain. – Yours, etc,
EOIN DILLON,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – Newton Emerson is correct about the huge influence of television upon identity in Northern Ireland but deeper forces were at work for my generation of northern Protestants. I was born in the 1950s, when television was in its infancy. At school my teachers and fellow pupils were all mainland-minded. We studied mainland history, geography and English literature. The choice of foreign languages was confined to French, German and Spanish, which were taught by people who had English as a native tongue. The music teacher played Elgar and Purcell. We played rugby and cricket against other mainland-minded schools. Religious education was confined to Bible studies delivered by Presbyterian ministers, although one Church of Ireland cleric tried in vain to encourage us to debate mainland social issues. My careers teacher advised me to consider teaching on the mainland.
I often feel my education began when I left school. – Yours, etc,
MAURICE NEILL,
Bangor, Co Down.
Sir, – Newton Emerson grew up under an illusion if he thought that Northern Ireland was “as British as Finchley”. He uses this expression as a quote from Margaret Thatcher, but what she actually said in the House of Commons on November 10th, 1981, was “Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom – as much as my constituency is”. This was a quote of political reality, not an expression of lifestyle comparisons.
Growing up not far from Finchley, I can assure your columnist that the way of life in Finchley was far removed from the sectarianism (on both sides) in Northern Ireland.
If Northern Ireland had only been as British as Finchley, I don’t think the Troubles would ever have occurred.
Thankfully Northern Ireland is today closer in style to Finchley (as is the Republic for that matter!) and we are all benefitting as a result. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN O’SULLIVAN,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.