Sir, – One can imagine the fevered activity recently as the EU tried to issue an agreed statement on the Israel-Hamas war.
In particular we are informed that the wordsmiths agonised over the use of “pause” or “pauses”, the former defined as a brief halt while the latter a number of halts (but something less than the dreaded ceasefire word). You may be tempted to engage with the absurdity of such semantics like some sort of macabre crossword game (halt, stop, interlude, etc) but then realise thousands have died beneath the carpet bombing in the meantime. Pause for thought?
PAUL ARTHERTON,
Belfast.