Conrad Black Replies
| Date | 01 June 1998 |
| Published date | 01 June 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209805300211 |
| Subject Matter | The Readers' Column |
Conrad
Black
replies
wish
to
thank
Andrew
Cohen
and
Geoffrey
Pearson
for
their
gener-
ally
favourable
comments
on
my
article in
the
winter
1997-8
issue.
Both
writers
assert
that
it
is
too
late
for
Britain
to
be
attracted
to
NAFTA,
and Cohen
writes
that
I
should
have
proposed
closer
trade
relations
between
NAFTA
and
the
EU
as
a
whole.
All
polls
indicate
that
the
major-
ity
of
Britons
do
not
wish
to
go
further into
Europe
and
both
major
political
parties
are
committed
to
a
referendum on
monetary
union.
If
such
an alternative
as
I
proposed
were
on
offer
it
would
be
extremely
tempting
to
a
very
large
number
of
Britons.
The
idea
of
closer
trade
relations between
NAFTA
and
the
EU
was
pro-
posed this
year
by
Sir
Leon
Brittan
but
vetoed
by
the
French.
The
issue
now,
as
far
as
Britain
is
concerned,
is
not
trade,
but
stripping
West-
minster
jurisdictionally
to
clothe
Brussels
and
Strasbourg,
going back-
ward
toward
pre-Thatcher
industrial
relations
and
tax
levels,
and
slam-
ming
the
door
on
any
special
relationship
with
the
United
States
and
Canada.
Both
writers
take
issue
with
my
comments
on
the
Middle
East.
I
do
not
agree
with
Cohen that
the
peace
process
has
'collapsed.'
I
think
that
there
is
a
slowly
dawning
realization
on
the
Palestinian
side
that
public
relations
victories
in the
credulous Western
media
do
not
change
the
correlation
of
forces
on
the
ground and
that
there
is
mounting
impa-
tience
with
the
embezzlement
of
large
amounts
of
aid
given
to
the
Pales-
tinian
Authority.
My impression
is
that
both
sides
are
doing
less
pos-
turing
and
more
negotiating,
and
I
think
there
will
be
a
resumption
of
progress.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Spring
1998
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