23 FEBRUARY 1974, Page 5

Irish jokes

Sir: Angus Maude's reference to the current spate of Irish jokes is timely, even if it is ambivalent (does he approve of them or not?). Is the fact that the Southern Irish economy achieved a growth rate of something like 10 per cent (Economist, January 4, 1974) last year indicative of a stupid nation? Conversely if the Northern Irish are not stupid, then we must

beware lest this island arrive at such a degree of sophistication! Irish jokes may well provide light relief for the British; to this 'Southern' Irishman it sounds distinctly like whistling in the self inflicted dark.

Adrian Mannering School of Social Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton