Unionists under pressure
Sir: The most distressing factor in the letters of recent correspondents on Northern Ire- land (20 June) is that for the most part they have fallen victim to a simple technique of crooked thinking. They have heard asserted manifest absurdities as if they were self-
evident truths—and they have believed them.
These admittedly well-intentioned people display their political naiveté through their inability to see our difficulties except in terms of sectarianism allegedly fostered by maladjusted persons like myself. They are unable to realise that this is only a symptom of a far deeper malaise.
In this province there are two distinct social, cultural and ethnic groupings neither of which can bring their political objectives to fruition save at the expense of those of the other. The solution can only come when one side convinces the other that their policies are in the best interests of all. Thus the solution lies not in intellectual debate or seztarianism but in pursuing with the utmost igour the devetopment policies of the Unionist party.
It is essential that those who would aspire to lead their community open their eyes and realise what the real problem is, as opposed to blindly accepting what they hear and promptly galloping off like some knight errant to save some maiden in distress.
Jeremy Burchill Queens University Conservative and Union- ist Association, Students' Union, Belfast 7
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