MAYBE the IRFU should pass on the two national anthems [& the 'Ireland's Call' dirge? ] and invite Johnny Rotten to perform the Sex Pistols' 'God Save the Queen', whose last verse is: God save the queen, we mean it man, There is no future in England's dreaming, No future for you, no future for me, No future, no future, for you Johnny Rotten [real name John Lydon], whose parents were both Irish, has explained the lyrics as follows: "You don't write a song like 'God Save The Queen' because you hate the English race.

You write a song like that because you love them, and you're sick of seeing them mistreated."

Dr Sean Marlow School of Electronic Engineering Dublin City University Dublin 9

Talented cubs come from rugby clubs From John Power

IN THE article entitled 'The Academy award goes to. . .' (Sport, 18 February) by Des Berry, there was no mention of the contribution of rugby clubs to the development of professional rugby players in Ireland. The article highlighted Felix Jones as an example of this new generation of rugby players and featured him in the main picture. It should be pointed out that Felix has been playing rugby with Seapoint Rugby Club from the age of six and is still a proud member of our under 20 and 1st teams today. Given this fact, it is clear that Seapoint Rugby Club played a significant role in his development as the fine talent he is today in conjunction with his school, St Andrews College.

In fact he returned to the club on Sunday last with his under 20 Ireland jersey as an inspiration to our existing 270+ registered players at youth and mini level in the club.

John Power Youth Coordinator Seapoint Rugby Club Churchview Road Killiney Co Dublin

Unionists don't want players to sing dumb From Paul Molloy

DICK KEANE suggests that we should show respect to our unionist neighbours by not playing the Irish national anthem before Irish rugby internationals and can't believe that they haven't told us where to stuff it. Maybe our unionist neighbours respect the fact that the overwhelming majority of our players are from the Republic of Ireland. Why on earth should they have to watch their opponents proudly sing their national anthem and then not be allowed to do the same themselves?

Paul Molloy Tullamore Co Offaly

Will voters decide to cull Cullen?

From Keith Connolly

IN A quick observation to Cllr Dermot Lacey's entirely valid query (Letters, 18 February) as to why minister Martin Cullen still holds office following many years of seriously incompetent mismanagement . . . I am afraid there are only 8,529 (first preference) voters who reside in the Republic of Ireland whom we can blame for the national disgrace that has occurred in Cullen's foolish prominence. May they hopefully be aware of the full extent of their erroneous decision.

Keith Connolly Rathfarnham Dublin

Ifta talent was more than a bit 'iffy' From Ultan O Broin

CLAIRE BYRNE, in her apologia for the trysts of luvviedom (Comment, 18 February), ignores an important point about the so-called Irish Film and Television Awards: who cares? There was virtually no media criticism of the event itself, the televised version of which made a Christian Brothers-run Debs of the 1950s look classy. Not surprising really; as the camera panned around the room we witnessed that the usual incestuous lumps, frumps, and grumps of the Celtic Tiger Media Axis of Sleeveen were all too happy to rub shoulders and clink glasses with the "great and the good" as RTE advertised them.

Whether it was the so-called "style awards" handed out to individuals who carried off their attire with all the panache and grace of Liz McDonald or Les Battersby of Coronation Street (usually with bodies to match), the award nominations for programmes not even made or broadcast in 2006 (Showbands), the cretinous student polemic of trendy-lefty "chuckee" windbag Ken Loach (hello, the war is over), or the general chumminess and backslapping that had us reaching for the sick-bag, one thing is clear: Ireland has nothing to fear from Avian Flu as long as the current epidemic of narcissistic personality disorder continues.

In the immortal words of Jim Royle: Academy, My Arse.

Ultan O Broin South Circular Road Dublin 8

'Brutal reality' need not be one party state

From A Leavy

SHANE COLEMAN (Comment, 18 February) reached the conclusion that "the brutal reality" of the next election is that it is almost certain to return the present government to power. What was a democratic republic has now, therefore, become as Coleman says "a one party state". If the only purpose of the election is to re-elect the party which has been dominant for most of the last 20 years what is the point of having an election at all?

Should we not, like North Korea, declare a one party state forthwith, designate the Taoiseach as "the great leader" for life and be done with it.

A Leavy 1 Shielmartin Drive Sutton Dublin 13

Don't write off the election just yet

From Catriona Fitzpatrick

I READ with interest Shane Coleman's article 'No pot of gold at the end for the Rainbow' but I disagree with his conclusion that the opposition parties will not gain enough seats to form a government. If you analyse the poll finding there are several factors that counteract Coleman's statement.

Firstly the government has dropped two percentage points since the last IMS poll.

In the run up to the last election Fianna Fail's support was forecast in the polls as somewhere between 48% and 54%, and in the end they achieved 41.5%. If the polls predicted Fianna Fail to be so far ahead of the other parties in the run up to last election and they finished almost 7% down on their lowest poll, does that suggest that the same could happen this time? That would mean that FF could end up with only 30% of the vote.

The polls also shows support for the combined opposition slightly up, which overall means that this election is not already over but all to play for.

Caitriona Fitzpatrick Elvaston Marble Hall Park Douglas Road Cork

US 'burden of proof ' can't be believed

From Dr Brian Kelly

RICHARD DELEVAN seems distraught that "because of the Iraq debacle, the burden of proof on the US intelligence necessary to prove an Iran connection [to the Iraqi resistance] is impossibly great" (Comment, 18 February). If by this he means that the world is deeply skeptical toward an administration that has lied through its teeth at every stage of the occupation of Iraq, and which appears to be pursuing an identical strategy toward Iran, then he is on to something.

But if it is true that the bar has been raised on evidence, this does not seem to have shaken Delevan's penchant for asserting as fact the most dubious claims emanating from the Bush White House.

Ironically, in the same edition Patrick Cockburn demolished the first of these, describing "the attempt by the US military to persuade the world that [the IED] is a highly developed weapon requiring Iranian expertise" as "ludicrous".

The second claim parroted by Delevan . . . that Iranian special forces are operating inside Iraq against the US military . . . is even less credible.

These reports emanate from precisely the same kinds of 'sources' given such prominent attention in the runup to Iraq . . .mainly wealthy, right-wing Iranian exiles with intimate links to the neo-conservative cabal running US foreign policy. In light of all this, Delevan should be less disturbed about being seen in public with an antiwar movement that had it right all along, and more concerned that his willingness to serve as a conduit for the official line might make him complicit in the "shock and awe" being prepared for Iran.

Dr Brian Kelly Glen Road Belfast Co Antrim