Sir, - Mary Holland says (Opinion, September 6th) of Martin McGuinness: "As Minister of Education he might have served the cause of peaceful progress better if he had used his considerable clout to persuade them the Holy Cross parents to follow the advice of the school's board of governors and use the less controversial back entrance."
As someone who lived through the US civil rights confrontations of the early and mid 1960s, I find this suggestion absurd and demeaning. Would Mary Holland have had those young African-American children, who were being prevented from entering school by the racist governor George Wallace, sneak round and try to get in by the back door? Equality and parity of esteem are what is needed - not cowering to Loyalist fanatics bent on bringing down the Good Friday Agreement. - Yours, etc.,
Michael Kerry, Santa Rosa, California, USA.