Shock of the old
From Mr Kevin Dawson Sir: Just where does one start in reply to David Yelland's extraordinary piece 'Cogi- to, Ergo Sun' (18 March)? I guess that if you've spent your entire life within the con- fines of a newspaper, then matters of pre- sentation seem paramount. However, if you are one of Mr Yelland's 'Top Brits', then you'll know exactly how good you are; you'll be getting on with your job and won't need the constant validation of a popular tabloid newspaper. Surely if there were such a crisis of confidence abroad, then we would not be at the forefront of so many fields? You can't have it both ways.
With regard to Mr Yelland's Gradgrindi- an 'solution' for the problem of history teaching — it all depends on which facts you want to teach. He tells us that the Cru- sades can be taught along the lines of `Three Lions on his Tunic: Ruthless Rizza Mauls Heathens'. Oh, how amusing. Can't wait to see how he'd deal with Richard's treatment of the 3,000 or more Muslim men, women and children held prisoner at Ayyadieh. He massacred the lot.
As for the 'mood of 12th-century Eng- land'. What mood? Does he not realise that 99 per cent of the population would have had no idea what was happening outside their vil- lage, never mind in a war fought thousands of miles away by a motley collection of sec- ond and third sons of Norman knights who couldn't speak a word of English? Then again, I suppose that Mr Yelland's support for a foreign 'overlord' with limited concern for ordinary Britons isn't so very new. . . .
Kevin Dawson
Chalk Farm, London NW3
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