Sir, – Finn McRedmond has surely allowed herself to get a little carried away with her examples of "a seismic tonal shift the past week" in the attitude of the UK press towards Ireland ("Praise for Ireland says more about the state of Britain", Opinion & Analysis, July 23rd).
She rightly refers to the ridiculous allegations that have, in recent times, “dominated the right-wing headlines” in the UK.
She goes on to choose references from the Economist and the Guardian to support her argument. However, the Guardian, nearly always, and the Economist always has presented a fair and balanced approach to Irish affairs, and they are not, in any case, normally supportive of “right-wing headlines”.
With the Daily Mail or the Daily Telegraph it is a different matter. I recall a former Telegraph editor, Charles Moore, castigating Ireland during the Brexit discussions for “overplaying its hand”.
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The corollary, of course, was that the UK was underplaying its hand.
We must wait and see if Finn McRedmond’s “seismic shift” is reflected in the views of the current editors of the Mail and the Telegraph. – Yours, etc,
DICK REEVES,
Kilmacanogue,
Co Wicklow.