Letter: RUC name change

Sir: Ireland is our responsibility. England took it by military force, and we still hold Northern Ireland by military force. By design, for our own ends, we set Protestant and Catholic at each other's throats: divide and rule.

If we continue to hold Northern Ireland by military force then we inherit responsibility for the crime of our forebears. There must be a referendum in England to determine whether we want to preserve the Union with Northern Ireland or dissolve it. Our consent is required. We too have a veto and our veto is decisive.

Would we not be better friends and neighbours apart than in a union which will never work? Are the "nay-sayers" to be allowed to go on holding us to ransom for another generation with their threats of mayhem? We do not need a province across the Irish Sea.

But we must not leave the six counties in the lurch. If we decide to dissolve the Union we must also provide for each of the six counties to choose, by referendum, to become an independent statelet (like Liechtenstein), a member of an independent Ulster with other counties that so choose, or a member of the Republic of Ireland.