Hauled over the Kohl

Edward Pearce's account of the Cambridge Union debate on Europe (THES, May 16) was a tissue of distortions and inaccuracies.

None of the speakers proposing the motion, including a senior diplomat at the German embassy, said anything that could be remotely regarded as anti-German. My praise of Germany's "impeccable democracy" was even cited by Mr Pearce in his speech, but was mysteriously absent from his diatribe published in The THES. The argument for the proposition was that Kohl is wrong not because he is a German, but because he is a federalist - an argument that applies to federalists in other countries, including the United Kingdom.

Incidentally my invitation to address the Cambridge Union was not the result of Conservative MPs losing their seats, as Mr Pearce implies, but was confirmed in writing on February 18.

Martin Holmes, Co-chairman, The Bruges Group, Oxford