Majority minority

In his review of Tony Kushner's We Europeans (Books, November 4) Panikos Panayis describes the study as concentrating "on ethnic minorities in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s when Jews formed the largest such group".

I know the Irish are often described as an "invisible minority" but in the 1930s and 1940s the Irish born, let alone the Irish descended, far outnumbered every other non-British ethnic group in Britain. Perhaps Panayis is unaware of Ireland's status as an independent state during that period.

David Byrne
Durham University