Letter: I'm no Trot

Sir: When David Aaronovitch failed to find anything offensive in my statements of my beliefs, he resorted to selective quotations from others ("Watch out Labour, the Trots are back with a vengeance", 18 August). I wonder how he would like it if I quoted selections of articles written by others in The Independent in order to misrepresent his views.

I am sick and tired of being held responsible for everything that happened in the 1970s. I am 34 years old and was too young to be involved in politics in the 1970s. While David Aaronovitch was debating with International Marxist Group, I was doing my O-levels. When David Aaronovitch saw his old comrades shouting at Michael Foot in 1982, I was starting my first term at university. I have spent the whole of my adult life in the Labour Party and in no other political party, unlike David Aaronovitch. And I have campaigned for the Labour Party in every election since I joined in 1979.

Labour Left Briefing has no "line" about Ireland. For the record, I am opposed to bombings and violence. Along with everyone, including the writers in Labour Left Briefing whom Aaronovitch selectively quotes, I was shocked and horrified by the Omagh bomb at the weekend. Any attempts to suggest otherwise are deeply offensive to me. I support the peace process and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

And finally, and for the umpteenth time, I am not a Trotskyist; and juxtaposing my name with the word "Trot" is a profound misrepresentation of my political views. I am a socialist, a feminist, and a democrat.

LIZ DAVIES

London N1