A chara, - No doubt Ruth Dudly-Edwards and her ilk of apologists for the worst excesses of unionist bigotry will be loud and strident in their denial that the deaths of the three young boys in Ballymoney have anything to do with Orangeism. In the lack of anything other than circumstantial evidence, one is forced to respect due process and the presumed innocence of the Orange Order and its supporters.
However, if Ms Dudly Edwards and her cohorts care to glance at the (British) Independent's cover photo on Saturday, they would have a harder task in preparing a defence. It is a photo of the dawn mist rising from Drumcree with, in the foreground, a banner with the slogan "Croppies lie down" flanked by Orangemen in their regalia.
If an organisation were to demand the "right" to march through, say, Brixton waving signs which said "Nigger lie down", how would Ms. Dudley Edwards and her fellow self-styled "defenders of civil rights" react? - Is mise, Paul Linehan,
Howth, Co Dublin.