15 JANUARY 2005, Page 22

Tsunami silence

From Ian Barber Sir: Stephen Glover’s glib dismissal of the three-minute silence for victims of the Asian tsunami was a study in Eurosceptic inaccuracy (Media studies, 8 January). For the record, the silence was proposed jointly by the governments of two member states, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, the incoming and outgoing holders of the presidency of the European Union at the time the tragedy began. Whether the UK participated in the silence was entirely up to its government. Thus the only ‘fatuity’ is the reference to ‘dreamed up by our political masters in Brussels’ — wrong on both politics and geography.

Ian Barber

European Commission Representation in the United Kingdom, London SW1