Is Esther Rantzen anti-Irish

Is the English woman Esther Rantzen anti-Irish?

The English woman Esther Rantzen is of the opinion that the people here are addicted to violence. This is a new variation by Esther on the old stage–Irish image of the fighting Irish. But do we deserve this image?

It is true the people here fought each other to a standstill over a period of 34 years. During that time there was an element in England who wrote that off, as characteristic of the Irish and these English would say they expected nothing else from the Irish but fighting.

It is indubitable that if the English had stayed out of Ireland violence on the island would have been at a minimum but if the English were at loggerheads over the constitution as the people here are, there would be wide spread violence in England as in the English Civil War. Our violence isn’t addictive; it is a product of our history of which the English are a part and carry much of the blame, past and present.A So Esther a more charitable and understanding view of the Irish would be in order.

Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist-Early Sinn Fein