As the leader of the Independent senators, Basharrat Ali ponders his latent function and that of his colleagues on the Independent bench in Parliament (Guardian, December 1). It might be of interest to recall the amusing asides on this issue by Dr Eric Williams, the creator of the Senate, in 1961. In an address on the future of Guyana and the West Indies, delivered at Queen's College in Georgetown on March 13, 1963 (the Ides of March), he put it this way, tongue, as ever, very much in cheek:
"After all, these cricketers are doing so well these days, man. We have Constantine in London, then we have them in Trinidad. We have Jeffrey Stollmeyer as senator. They say that he is there to represent agriculture, but whenever he gets into any difficulties in agriculture with the Government, he could always say he is there to represent cricket..." It seems what goes around does come around, or, as Dr Williams was fond of saying, plus c'est la même chose.
Rawle Boland
London