Sir, - When President McAleese gushed about her Orange tea-party, I gagged a little, then shrugged it off. It was inevitable, I thought, that "Big Bird" Robinson would draw some female featherheads into Irish politics. But now I am truly worried, as they seem to be multiplying. There was Lord Mayor Freehill, asking Dubliners to turn out and beat their native tom-toms to welcome a parade of Orangemen. And here in The Irish Times I see Senator Mary Henry (March 29th) citing poor old grovelling King Priam as an example to the Irish of "reconciliation".
I think the Senator should keep up with her reading. The story of the fall of Troy is not news to most of us, but she obviously hasn't a clue about how it all ended for Priam and his people. There is a "very moving" play by a feminist named Euripides that spells it out in unstinting detail: the Trojans were slaughtered and enslaved because they too eagerly accepted a conciliatory gesture from unreconstructed enemies.
Enough said. - Yours, etc.,
Anna Bradley, South Goodman Street Rochester, New York, USA.