It is a pity that the politicians and media seem to have virtually ignored recent developments in the North. 

Dictatorship in Russia is undeniable. Dictatorship has brought pain and suffering to too many people, past and present.

I don’t think your opinion writer (Editorial, February 25) need worry that the young people of Pure in Heart are offering a guilt ridden message of sexually repressed religiosity.

Your editorial “Wear poppy with pride” (Nov 4) ignores the fact that the poppy does not just commemorate the World Wars but also all campaigns conducted by the British Army since 1918 — including their less than savoury exploits in Ireland and other colonies.

If you were in dispute with your bank over a large sum of money, with considerable merit to your arguments for having that debt greatly reduced or even written off completely, would you go off and borrow from another source — at interest rates even higher than your bank was going to charge — the entire amount to make the first massive instalment payment?

I don’t think the Government should resurrect Enda Kenny’s proposal to downgrade Irish at senior level (Matt Cooper, Feb 24), but it should revisit the counterproductive and asinine decision to scrap continental languages in national schools.

NORA Bennis (Letters, July 14) wonders why senators such as the gay Protestant David Norris refuse to listen to Catholic bishops on matters of personal morality.

IT is true that the founder of Sinn Féin, Arthur Griffith, proposed the idea of a dual monarchy for Ireland (‘SF and monarchy’, Letters, June 29).

AT 66 years of age I have belatedly begun reading Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and, lo and behold, on page seven I read: “A bishop keeps on saying at the age of 80 what he was told to say when he was a boy of 18, and as a natural consequence he always looks absolutely delightful.”

IT is often said that the theories of economists go awry because they live in a cosy world of figures and fail to take account of the most unpredictable factor – human nature.

YOUR feature article on animal abuse (June 16) makes for horrific reading for anyone who cares for animals.

THE new year was scarcely a fortnight old when 1,000 Irish workers were told their services were no longer required. A black Friday for the Irish people.

AS a taxpayer interested in national planning and wanting to see everyone get value for money, why can’t we have a less elaborate and far less costly road that that currently proposed for the N20 between Blarney in Co Cork and Patrickswell in Co Limerick?

SINCE the new laws on provisional drivers came into effect there has been a surge of tests taking place for the ‘unlawful’ mature drivers who have been driving for years without a full licence.

THE death penalty was still on the statute books during Patrick Hillery’s presidency and a number of such sentences were handed down during that period.

The FAIR group in the North concerns itself exclusively with the victims of republican violence.

I WAS surprised to see Bernadette Bohan quoted as saying categorically that breast cancer is caused by nutritional deficiencies and toxin build-up (Feelgood, June 30).

MY husband and I went to see the long-awaited Celtic Tiger show in the RDS on June 3.

ACCORDING to media reports, the Irish Human Rights Commission has made a submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination as follows: “That the Government should introduce legislation to define the circumstances in which abortion can currently be legally carried out in Ireland.”