Madam, - The Minister for Foreign Affairs, speaking at Messines, described the Northern peace process as "arguably one of the most successful experiences in peace-building, bar none".
Who writes this stuff? There must be someone cloistered in Iveagh House who may never have been at Cheltenham but who knows that a smeacháof bookies' cant is just the way to spice up a ministerial utterance.
In the right place "bar none" is a sturdy clincher, but it is too vigorous to be safely added as a rider to so wobbly a verdict as "arguably one of the most. . .etc". If the Minister could be persuaded to say something less flabby about the peace process (best, fairest, slowest, least comprehensible - anything as long as it's superlative), then "bar none" would usefully hammer home the message.
Until then, it would be better to use "bar none" only as a summary of government policy on CIA flights! - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DRURY, Brussels, Belgium.