Letters | 17 May 2018

Iran’s hated regime

Sir: I disagree with the analysis of Christopher de Bellaigue (‘Trump’s folly’, 12 May). The Iranians I know, well aware of the hardship caused by sanctions, nevertheless welcome them as a demonstration of international condemnation of the Tehran regime. The idea that the Iranian people would rally round the mullahs in the face of disapproval by the West is wrong. My Iranian friends plead for our moral support in their efforts to overthrow their hated regime, which is impoverishing their country by its military adventurism abroad and has robbed many families of loved ones through imprisonment and executions.
David Harris

London SW13

Can’t fudge the border

Sir: Lionel Shriver’s article is correct in recognising that the EU is responsible for its side of the UK-Irish border after Brexit, not Britain’s (‘The Irish border is the EU’s problem, not ours’, 12 May). But the suggestion that the Good Friday Agreement could be fudged or changed in any way, however reasonable it may sound, is a dangerous one that would result in social and political disaster. The border region has seen the growth, in the past two decades, of young Northern Ireland-born professionals who not only hold Irish passports but who identify as Irish and not British.

Despite being too young to remember the troubles, the GFA remains hugely significant to these young Irish men and women, who are growing up to dominate public life in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. If Westminster wants to avoid threatening the long-term integrity of the Union and difficult debates with the Irish Nationalist movement, the government and the EU would be wise to solve the UK-Irish Border within the strict parameters of the GFA.
George Lawley

Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire

Wellington’s test

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Gavin Mortimer

Why do the French hate J.D. Vance so much?

Sir: Charles Moore (The Spectator’s Notes, 12 May) is a little premature in suggesting that the current Duke of Wellington has departed from the wise habits of his great forebear by amending the EU Withdrawal Bill in the Lords.