Let's not blame the English for 800 years of oppression

I AM delighted to see the recent success of the Wolfe Tones' version of Thomas Davis's 'A Nation Once Again' as a candidate in the BBC's No1 song of all time.

But, as an Englishman I understand also the difficulty that your correspondent Stuart Edison ('Damnation once again for the Wolfe Tones', Irish Examiner, Dec 14) has with continued references to "800 years of oppression."

If the starting point for this oppression is the arrival on these shores of Strongbow in 1169, then I would say that this oppression, strictly speaking, cannot be said to be an English oppression.