A place apart
Sir: John Biggs-Davison, purporting to review Dervla Murphy on Northern Ireland (20 May), considers that no civil rights are now lacking there. True, in theory many wrongs have been righted since the demise of Stormont. In practice the situation is much the same as in the 1930s. By demanding details of schooling it is possible to tell from which community job applicants derive. They are appointed or turned down accordingly. Again, police surgeons do not put their own jobs on the line over invented injuries to prisoners, and can spot selfinflicted wounds as effectively as the rest. To keep order in a troubled province a police force must be seen to be just and absolutely impartial. The RUC does not have this reputation and never has had. No army can hold the ring for a political settlement effectively either, unless trusted as completely fair. The British Army, representing Unionism, cannot do this. A UN, Commonwealth or EEC force might be successful here.
Desiree Hirst University College of Swansea West Glamorgan
Previous page
