Letter: British fog over Ireland's past

Sir: Ronan Bennett's article on the film Michael Collins states that "audiences in the US are sadly unable to follow the British lead of dispassionate inquiry and analysis when it comes to Ireland".

After years of debate with Irish, British and other European nationals, it is my view that in general the British are anything but capable of dispassionate inquiry and analysis when it comes to Ireland.

Unfortunately, the traditional teaching of history in the UK has left us with a poor sense of our general involvement in the affairs of other countries as a colonial power. Were the British generally more capable of dispassionate inquiry and analysis, one could only hope that the situation in Northern Ireland could have been resolved sooner.

MICHAEL D SMITH

London SE13