Sir, - I now have to buy a new, smaller birdcage. - Yours, etc,
Sir, - What a shame that one of the few omissions in the new look Irish Times should be the From the Archives column. It has usually been the first piece I have read, even before the death column.
It has been hugely illuminating to have a primary source of history to read each day, covering a variety of subjects and times over the past 150 years. The recent coverage of matters to do with the Ulster Covenant as seen from the Southern Liberal Unionist position taken by the paper at that time , has been fascinating.
In this context it is especially sad that as we continue through the rest of the Decade of Commemorations, apparently we will not have this daily resource. The Irish Times archive has given us what to the present age is a somewhat counter-cultural take on these events from a contemporary source. It would be particularly sad if a pandering to a present day orthodoxy or image, The Irish Times were to compromise its fearless independence, or appear to be ashamed of its past.
Please reconsider this sad editorial decision. - Yours, etc,
Sir, - May the new-look Irish Times continue to be the font of all wisdom! - Yours, etc,