The arts are not a vehicle for some British colonial plot

EMMA KELLY’S reference to ‘Britain’s obsession with claiming Irish talent’ (‘Hands off Paul Mescal, he’s ours’, Irish Independent, August 1) betrays a curious combination of jingoism and a claim to victim-hood on the subject of her neighbour.

As the long and age-old eastward procession of Irish hopefuls shows – be they entertainers, writers, students or teachers as well as tradesmen and professionals of all stripes – the real and admirable obsession is the pursuit of security, success and recognition by the talented, enterprising and ambitious of this island. They go across the water, invited or uninvited, and are welcomed. It is time for this to be acknowledged and applauded – since the two islands form a cultural complex – and Kelly’s embarrassing insistence that British hospitality and acclaim are a colonial plot against Ireland to be routed.

Incidentally, the distinguished Fiona Shaw, whom Kelly cites as a victim of rapacious appropriation, is a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE). I don’t recall her turning the honour down, nor her equally distinguished fellowLondoner Edna O’Brien her damehood. Nor should they have. John Wilson Foster

Portaferry, Co Down