Sir, - May I suggest that when John Waters next visits the "mainland", he reads the Times rather than the Independent. The Times of November 26th carried a measured interview with the Taoiseach in which he pointed out that the Commonwealth is "a very different thing now than it was 50 years ago", and that "I certainly won't be suppressing the debate".
Has it ever occurred to John Waters that if the Irish Republic cannot contemplate the possibility of rejoining a multi-ethnic, multicultural political grouping which is only very residually British, then there is absolutely no chance of it incorporating the Protestants of Northern Ireland who are fiercely British?
Incidentally, if the Republic did decide to rejoin the Commonwealth, it would reconnect with some 17 million people of Irish extraction. - Yours, etc., Simon Partridge,
East Finchley, London N2.