MARK Simpson, prospective parliamentary candidate for Wyre Forest, appears to favour a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Union of Great Britain with Ireland on January 1, 1801.
This is a crazy notion even by the standards of parliamentary candidates.
The Emerald Isle was in a state of political turbulence at the time, while Napoleon was rampant in Europe.
The London government feared French intrigue in John Bull's "other island". The Union was never really accepted by the Catholic people of Ireland.
London was, rightly or wrongly, blamed for the dreadful famine and cholera epidemic of the late 1840s.
At the time of the Union, the island of Ireland had nearly 35 per cent of the population of the British Isles.
In spite of a higher than average birth rate over the 200 years the percentage is now not much more than eight per cent. A large number of the population had been dispersed around the world.
Any attempt by the English to mark, let alone celebrate the anniversary would be regarded as a provocation by the Republic and the Catholics of six counties.
The already fragile Good Friday agreement would be further undermined.
D E MARGRETT,
Rowan Court,
Worcester.
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