Sir, – I would suggest that recent letters about the wearing of the poppy reflect the fact that the lesson of the first World War has still not been understood.
The arguments about the poppy are related to the unresolved issue that a ruling elite made disastrous decisions that created a situation where other people had to sacrifice their lives for those decisions. The past is the present. There is still a refusal of the ruling elite to sacrifice their pride for the common good.
The issue is not the poppy but rather the hubris of decision-makers. – Yours, etc,
ELAINE BYRNE,
Broadford Drive,
Ballinteer, Dublin 16.
Sir, – I have spent a lifetime’s teaching in Trinity College Dublin trying to explain the difference between England and Britain. Is it so very difficult to understand this distinction or is it simply anti-English racism with which we are contending?
In response to the letter on the poppy from Nigel Newling may I say for what must now be at least the thousandth time that there has been no English imperialism since 1707. It is British imperialism.
At present there is not even an English parliament. At Westminster there is still a British parliament, alongside a Scottish parliament in Edinburgh and a Welsh assembly in Cardiff and a Northern Irish assembly in Belfast. The English are now oppressed by the British as the Irish have been.
Perhaps you would be so kind as to publish this letter for the benefit of your readers still struggling with the concept of Southern Ireland. – Yours, etc,
Dr GERALD MORGAN,
The Chaucer Hub,
Trinity College,
Dublin 2.