Letter: Most Northern Irish want peace

TONY PARKER'S interviews with extremists from Belfast ('Stories you won't forget', Review, 30 May), give a bleak view of opinions and prejudices within Northern Ireland. While it is apparent that he has gained the confidences of the people he has talked to, the interviewees featured are in the minority of the population in Northern Ireland.

As an 'Ulster exile' now living in England, I am only too aware of the shortcomings of media coverage of events in Northern Ireland. These interviews, however, will not further the understanding of the complex nature of Northern Irish politics/religion which sadly seem inseparable. The vast majority of the Northern Irish people want an end to the paramilitaries and the death and destruction they bring on both sides of the divide.

Until children in Northern Ireland are educated together regardless of religion, mistrust of each other will exist. In addition to this, mainland political parties must organise in Northern Ireland. Only then will the population of Northern Ireland be given the opportunity to vote on their political/economic beliefs rather than their religious beliefs.

Philip Campbell

Codicote, Hertfordshire