Television and bayonets

Sir,—Desmond Fennell’s comment about the Americanisation of Ireland called to mind Conor Cruise O’Brien’s observation, more than 40 years ago, that ‘the people of the South [the Republic] are now more Anglicised than at any time under British rule. Television is a more powerful weapon of acculturation than bayonets.’—Yours etc.,

MICHAEL GALLIGAN
Dublin 5