Oh dear, yet another denial of events in world history - as if we didn't already suffer from a surfeit of them.

I refer of course to the celebration of Admiral Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar against... who?

Sorry, I thought it was the French and Spanish fleets which got a bloody nose but, once again, the truth seems to cause embarrassment to those in high places.

World history, as far back as Biblical times, is full of convenient omissions.

In 553AD, an ecumenical council meeting of the Catholic Church in Constantinople voted to strike certain teachings from The Bible which were causing embarrassment.

Among them was re-incarnation. Consequently, more than half the world's population can't bring themselves to believe in it.

And Austrian history books apparently carry no references to Adolf Hitler, who was born and bred there.

Surely, the ambiguity of history is difficult enough without blatant distortions and concealment of truths.

Much of the trouble in the world today could have been avoided if there had been more freedom of information instead of convenient cover-ups.

Nobody wants to rub French noses in one of their most spectacular defeats but surely they are mature enough to accept they didn't do too well in this particular conflict.

-JH Player, Partridge Green