Home Secretary Jack Straw was very foolish to say that the English are aggressive, violent and intolerant and that devolution will lead to nasty nationalism.

If he had said it about the Scots, Irish, Welsh, Americans, Jews, Arabs or any other nation there would have been an outcry and he would have been labelled a racist.

Over the years the English have had to put up with a great deal - wars, immigration, political correctness - and on the whole we have remained incredibly tolerant. Straw should have engaged his brain before opening his mouth. I would like to think it was the last of Straw.

David Quarrie,

Lynden Way,

Holgate, York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.