DAMIEN FLINTER,
Sir, - Mike Welsford, an "expert in branding", provides an educational insight into modern democratic manipulation and the marketeers' contribution to addressing political problems, in his article "EU is still a product and has not yet become a brand" (The Irish Times, July 29 th).
His contention that "politicians need to market the EU like the Ford Mondeo to win the Nice Referendum" indicates his literary familiarity with the concept of the Year of Our Ford; but is he old enough to remember what was said as a summation of electoral scepticism regarding a certain Mr Nixon: "would you buy a second-hand car from this man?"
Trouble is, even if the EU quadrurad is a steady, safe, reliable saloon designed to get the kids to school and the groceries home, the shifty shuffling and verbal acrobatics of its marketeers seem only to deepen suspicions that it's a resprayed Saracen with a Panzer gearbox.
But if they redesign the interior for Nice Mark III. . . - Yours, etc.,
DAMIEN FLINTER,
Clifden,
Co Galway.