Sir, - No one, as far as I am aware, has pressed Helmut Kohl to wear a poppy, and a lot more German soldiers were killed in the first World War than Irish serving in the British army. If the poppy is only to commemorate British war dead, then it is as much a symbol of British nationalism as the Easter Lily is of Irish nationalism.
For the record, my grandfather served in the British Army and saw action at the Somme and Ypres. - Yours, etc.,
From Pat McGrath
54 Dowth Avenue, Dublin 7.