THE warmth and respect shown by the people of Ireland to Queen Elizabeth shows the relationship two nations can enjoy if one does not try and stop the self-determination of the other.
The British Union should learn from history and not try and stop England from leaving the UK.
An MP informed me that the benefit of England's very costly membership of the British Union (which is not also covered by the EU or NATO) is that 'we can stop Scotland voting against us in the European Union in the way Ireland does sometimes'.
It is this colonial attitude of trying to tell other nations how to think that caused much of the past conflict with Ireland. Let England leave and it will enjoy far more respect from our Celtic neighbours than now.
Bryan Gillard
Pound Park, Okehampton