Maybe Chris Titley is not as patriotic as the average Frenchman - if this is so then I am sorry for him - but he has no right to tar the rest of the population with this brush ('French Lessons In Stroppy Self-reliance', October 27).
I am just as patriotic as they are, although perhaps not so chauvinistic.
A short time ago Chris Titley ridiculed as "Little Englander" the idea of patriotism in England but now appears to find it admirable in France. What is the difference?
He also appears to have missed the point that this is an official ban - no question of giving the French the right to make the choice whether to buy British beef or not.
A boycott is totally different, being a personal decision which will hurt French trade more than ours.
And most of all he totally ignores the fact that once again the European law is disregarded in France - their recent extension of their 'hunting season' is illegal, which doesn't worry them at all, although why they should want to shoot thrushes and nightingales in the first place is a mystery to me.
Regarding Andy Baldock's letter in the same issue of the Evening Press, remember that the cheese is made from milk from cows which have been fed sewage sludge - the Brie doesn't taste quite so good when one thinks about that!
Muriel Davis,
York Road,
York.
...In response to the anti-French feeling and French products boycott I can offer help to the pro-British people of Yorkshire by offering to take all their unwanted French produce, champagne, Chablis, Bordeaux, clarets, pates, and truffles. I am prepared to take any of these off you for free and will collect.
I can unburden you of the unpatriotic dilemma of bringing in the Millennium with a magnum of Taittinger/Bollinger etc.
I will even swap a bottle of English cider for each bottle of champagne so you are not deprived of a bottle of bubbly for the festivities. I will swap a can of York ham for a can of pate de foi gras or similar. Likewise I will swap truffles for English home grown mushrooms and English wine (screw top) for any Chablis or Bordeaux. Hurrah for the British !
Down with the French!
Nick Durkin,
Hothams Court,
George Street,
York.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article