Sir, – Following the discovery of some old papers in an attic, Patrick Cavanagh asks the interesting question of why the price of a stamp has risen by a factor of 22 in the last half century while that of The Irish Times has risen 46-fold (Letters, February 25th). It must be the case that the efficiency of vehicles which ultimately transport mail has improved enormously, as have local and major roads. So postal deliveries have become logistically easier. Mr Cavanagh meanwhile compares the price of a Monday Irish Times from 1971 with the modern Saturday one. The daily edition has only increased about 30 times in price. More importantly, though, just on the cover of The Irish Times of February 25th reporters are cited in Kharkiv, Brussels, Berlin, Washington, Paris and London. The Saturday edition is over 100 pages. And all for less than the price of a Big Mac! I find it astounding how modern newspapers do so much for so little. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’BRIEN,
Kinsale, Co Cork.