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Sir, – Bobby McDonagh instructs us that the “EU is not a ‘bloc’ – don’t call it one” (Opinion & Analysis, June 14th).
Apparently the offending word has unfortunate Cold War connotations, suggestive of an “inward-looking, insular organisation”.
Naturally, he blames the British media for the descriptor’s popularity.
Someone really ought to tell German chancellor Angela Merkel. Reuters quoted her in May as saying, “If a big bloc like the EU is not in position to create (computer) chips, I am not comfortable about that”.
She may not share Mr McDonagh’s semantical fastidiousness but surely a woman who grew up in East Germany knows something about blocs. The word that makes Mr McDonagh nervous enjoys widespread currency for a simple reason. It fits. – Yours, etc,
AIDAN HARTE,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.