Letter: How we can force Ulster to grow up

Sir: In 1936 Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists staged a deliberately provocative march into London's East End with the express purpose of intimidating the Jewish population there. The march was strenuously opposed by the local population and the ensuing "Battle of Cable Street" prompted the government to pass the 1936 Public Order Act, banning the use of uniforms and marches for political purposes.

Is this not directly analogous to Northern Ireland, where the Orange Order bears at least a superficial resemblance to the BUF in its belief in its own inherent superiority and its right to assert that superiority by marching provocatively through areas inhabited by those whom it sees as undesirable elements?

Should not the provisions of the 1936 Public Order Act be extended to Northern Ireland?

G MAY

St Albans, Hertfordshire