12 JULY 1969, Page 24

LETTERS

From Mrs Mary Whitehouse, E. S. James, M. 0. Ajaro, A. T. Doel, G. J. Hand, Sir Graham Sutton, R. G. W. Rickcord, the Rev Michael E. Bennett, Charles Arnold- Baker, Brian Crozier, W. Waddington, Maurice Fraser.

BBC and the public interest

Sir: Mrs Yvonne C. R. Brock in her en- tirely predictable attack (Letters, 28 June) on your excellent editorial 'The BBC and the public interest' (7 June) fails to mention that she is a member of the South and West Advisory Council of the BBC.

She allows her sense of loyalty to the Corporation to override her sense of propor- tion—It [the Bac] is high minded and does have a sense of its mission'—and what I would have thought was a decent humility: because the SPECTATOR has so far forgotten itself to express views which do not meet with Mrs Brock's approval it is apparently heading for cultural collapse!

There is growing and world wide realis- ation that genuine progress in broadcasting will depend to a large degree upon the es- tablishment of realistic dialogue with the public. This will never be achieved until totally Independent Advisory Councils are appointed—and until status quo enthusiasts like Mrs Brock understand that 'illiberal' and 'philistine' epithets are applicable in more areas than one.

Mary Whitehouse Hon. General Secretary, National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, Triangle Farm House, Far Forest, Kidderminster, Worcs.