Show some pride and nurture our own talent!
DECLAN Rice made the right decision in declaring for England. It’s an absurdity to expect a player who was born and reared in England, schooled in England and learned all his soccer skills with English clubs to suddenly pull on a green jersey and pretend that he now represents Irish soccer.
The League of Ireland represents Irish soccer. The soccer background from which Declan Rice comes from is English. It’s time to put an end to the ludicrous spectacle of Irish talent scouts strolling around British soccer clubs with 19th-century birth certificates in their back pockets trying to scrounge players to make up for the deficiencies of the Irish League. There is plenty talk at present about ‘Irish independence’. Lets see some of it on the soccer pitch. FRANK O’CONNOR,
Blarney, Co. Cork.
America’s lost respect
I WAS only a tiny toddler when American troops landed in Sicily to start liberating Italy from the Nazis.
From that moment on, together with a good percentage of Italians, I have been looking up to the Americans for their openness, wealth and their good intention to invest in helping protect democracy in the world.
But our fascination about the Americans has been eroded over the last few decades because of their counterproductive military interventions in parts of the world, although this feeling has been intertwined with admiration for the figure of a few presidents who, all in all, have charmed us with their charisma – such as Kennedy, Reagan and Obama – to the point that we may have forgiven some of their foreign policies mistakes.
But none compares with Donald Trump who represents the very first president treading on sensationalism, drawing strength from controversy, forging ahead with his swift domestic measures, some of which have undoubtedly proved to be beneficial to Americans from a socio-economic point of view while others can be taken with a pinch of salt.
Donald Trump has charisma, perhaps too much of it, but he has utterly disoriented most of us with regard to our expectations from an American president and appreciation of his deeds.
The last move being the declaration of a state of emergency to circumnavigate constitutional obstacles with regard to getting funds to fulfil his intention to build a wall on the Mexican border.
For one, isolationism, which seems to be his preferred stance, is quite new in the traditional relationship between America and the rest of the world.
Will he be remembered as an extraordinary president who went against the grain to change world order for the better or one who embarked on a set of actions which in the long run could prove to be detrimental to America and its relationship with other nations of the world? CONCETTO LA MALFA,
Dublin 4.
Rest in peace, Nora
I WAS saddened to read of the death of Nora Bennis. Having met her a few times I had great admiration for her courage and wisdom and am not surprised to read that she ‘died heartbroken by the problems in society’.
It was reported that she promoted ‘Catholic and family values’, which she certainly did and none more so than her call for recognition of ‘women in the home’ and her opposition to mothers being forced out to work for economic reasons. Sad to say she got little support from government-funded women’s organisations for this stance, especially what was then the ‘Women’s Council of Ireland’.
Mrs Bennis was to the fore in seeking what was for the common good in all her endeavours and, in recent years particularly, her support for all life and her opposition to abortion. We are the poorer for her passing. May she rest in the peace she has surely earned. MARY STEWART,
Donegal town.
The sky’s ugly duckling
AFTER just 13 years of flying, the double-decker ugly duckling A380 passenger airplane is to cease production. Just 234 were built because very few airlines could justify its huge purchase price of $445million. Airbus would have had to sell nearly 600 planes to break even on the development costs, so every one sold has been at a huge loss.
In the late Nineties, Boeing warned the industry there was a dying market for jumbos that could carry 500 people. The 787 Dreamliner could carry 400 at a far-reduced fuel cost and purchase price and be able to fly further without refuelling. But Airbus management thought otherwise and went ahead with the A380 at an enormous cost. Most were sold to the Middle East carrier Emirates at a huge discount to keep the production lines open.
Boeing sensibly decided instead to revamp its iconic market leader, the reliable and gracious looking 747 people carrier in 2006.
It remains to be seen what losses Airbus has incurred by its folly to instigate production of the A380 when experts in the aircraft industry warned against going ahead with 350-ton leviathans in costconscious times. After 50 years, the 747 has seen off its jumbo competitor. Goodbye, A380. Sadly you were 25 years too late.
GERHARD JONAS, Standlake, Oxfordshire.