Madam, - Declan Kiberd (Opinion, December 5th) in a column headed "An England seeking liberation", makes the following observation: "For almost two centuries, ideas and images of Englishness, from roast beef to Burberry coats to the plays of Shakespeare have been subsumed under the signs of Britishness, thereby depriving the English people of a distinct and defined identity".
The implication in Mr Kiberd's thesis is that an independent England will be a haven of tolerance more in tune with Blake's Jerusalem than a martial stanza from Kipling exalting the supremacy of imperialism.
This is an extremely problematic argument. An independent English state is much more likely to be introverted, xenophobic, and hostile, particularly to its Celtic neighbours, the Scots, Irish and Welsh. The ghost of Oliver Cromwell still sits uneasily at the table of our collective history.
So let the Anglo-Saxons slumber on in their confusion, ambivalence and fractured identity. For its ironic that modern British expression within these islands still is a potent antidote to English nationalism. It affords us Celts the right to enjoy our own uniqueness whilst drinking freely from the well of English generosity. At the same time, we can ruthlessly exploit their sense of guilt for past indiscretions, before they were seduced and neutered by the illusion of empire.
So Mr Kiberd, rather than open up a Pandora's box of unforeseeable consequences, let John Bull sleep on. - Yours, etc,
SEÁN and RÓISÍN WHELAN, Nenagh, Co Tipperary.