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TEMA: Reflexionando acerca del significado de las palabras siguientes: 'English' y 'British', 'GB' y 'UK'...

Dear Sir

IT seems that there is some confusion in the mind of your correspondent (Letters, April 27) about definitions. The words 'English' and 'British' are not synonymous. All natives of the UK are British and each of the four countries involved has an identity of its own. Three of them have some degree of self government. England has not, but the campaign for an English parliament is seeking to rectify this.

Similarly, the Union Jack is not the English flag. It is the flag of the UK, being a composite design based on the crosses of St George, St. Andrew and St Patrick.

I fervently agree that we should celebrate our Englishness by cultivating St George's Day. We have a human need to go back to our roots occasionally and remember who we are, revelling with our fellows in our own particular culture and traditions. And April 23 has a special significance for  us, being the day on which we commemorate the birth of the greatest poet the world has ever known - William Shakespeare.

Scotland celebrates Burns' night well enough! Why do we not pay annual homage to Shakespeare in the same way? Especially as he was voted the outstanding life of the millennium!

However, St George's day is not only for looking back. In present day England wonderful things are happening! We have been a multi-national society from our beginnings and the very name of our country is a corruption of Angleland, after the invading Angles from Germany who settled here in the 5th and 6th centuries. And every schoolboy knows what happened in 1066!

Now London is reckoned to be the multi-cultural capital of the world - a very stimulating place to be! Therefore, let us also celebrate this richly varied fellowship which exists in English society today. And let our toast be: England, Shakespeare and St George!

JOHN SMITH Fairford

Dear Sir

AMONG the interesting correspondence arising from the topic of St George's Day, another misconception has crept in. GB is not synonymous with UK! Great Britain is the largest island of the British Isles and, indeed, of Europe. As such, it does not include Northern Ireland. The homelands of the British race as a whole should be referred to as the United Kingdom.

If we turn to our copies of the Authorised Version of the Bible (which, together with the works of Shakespeare, no English home is said to be complete without!) we find that the dedication is to King James 1, 'King of Great Britain, France and Ireland', That Bible was first published in 1611.

Subsequently, in 1801, the union (without France!) became known as the United Kingdom. Then, of course, in 1921, Ireland was divided into the then Irish Free State and Northern Ireland - the northern part only remaining British.

Incidentally, in my last letter, I referred to the 'Campaign for an English Parliament'.  The address of this organisation, for readers who may want more information, is: 1 Providence Street, Kings Lynn,Norfolk, PE30 5ET.

DAVE WILSON, Stanstead