Sir, - I worked in London in the early 1960s and when I read Mr Ferry's letter (July 10th) it brought back many memories.
I was fortunate enough for most of my two years there to work for an American firm but I did experience what I realised only years later (I was 18 or 19 at the time) was harassment and racism daily from my English colleagues. For example, I remember one young woman of about 25 looking at me and saying: "Imagine a whole country of them with everyone talking like that!" She went on to make snorting, pig-like sounds.
Mr Ferry doesn't mention the racism one experienced when one searched for accommodation. Some advertisements said, "No Irish", but more often it was, "No Irish or Blacks". Some years later I got an opportunity to go to South Africa (apartheid was still in operation). For the first time in my life I was confronted with the implications of my "whiteness" as distinct from my "Irishness" and it took about 10 seconds for me to decide not to go.
Because of the "No Irish or Blacks" stipulation, my friends and I were forced to find refuge among the North-West London ghettos of Cricklewood, West Hendon and Kilburn. There were just as many "cute hoors" among the Irish landlords there as there were in Dublin and the bedsits I experienced were grottier than almost anything you'd find here even at that time.
Of course I made wonderful friends too. I remember particularly some very kind Polish, English, Irish and Austrian/Jewish people. It wasn't all bad and, being young, the real implications of racism did not impinge much on one's consciousness. It was a long time ago and London seems a much different place now whenever I visit. But the ghosts are still there. - Yours, etc., ANNE ORR,
Marian Crescent,
Dublin 14.