Within the meaning of the Act
LETTERS
From T. C. Skeffington-Lodge, Patrick Hut- her, L. E. Weidberg, Tibor Szamuely, J. E. Martin, Lord Morpeth, Dr Enid Starkie, Katherine M. R. Kenyon, Adamu M. Fika, E. N. Omenukor, W. H. Irvine, Dr N. I. Ogbuehi, Angus Buchanan, Sir Denis Brogan, Guy Chapman.
Sir: While I am scarcely flattered to be named in Auberon Waugh's political commentary of 6 December in view of the 'silly billy' nature of a lot of what he writes, I find his linking me with the name of Madame de Sevigne not un- complimentary. I hope he meant it to be thus interpreted.
The aforenamed person, I am assured, had a joyous disposition, and was beloved of all for her natural vivacity, instinctive kindness, and sparkling wit! She was one in whom sense and sensitivity were exquisitely balanced! She had a well-developed social conscience. What the foolish regarded as reckless abandon in what she wrote, or said, was in fact no such thing, for she never spoke or put pen to paper merely for the sake of it; and all was in impeccably good taste!
If even half the attributes I name belong to hie, then I am surely not being immodest if I ay that I should do rather well in my coming encounter with Julian Amery in the spring by- election in Brighton which, at long last, the local Tbries think they might safely risk. •
Being oossessed of even a little of Madame de Sevigne's 'sparkling wit' prompts me to ask you to share it with me I have in mind the con- text in which Auberon Waugh writes not quite accurately about me. He says I was recently threatened by Essex University students with prosecution under the Race Relations Act for calling the Welsh 'silly billies.' The young pro- Powell Monday Club extremists who started this nonsense are, in fact, on my doorstep at Sussex University, and are not located in Col- chester.
The locals in Brighton have already joined in the fun which lies behind the Sussex students' approach to the Director of Public Prosecu- tions. Not so the sometimes over-solemn Times, which seemed to take the matter seriously, and did not publish the facts as I am giving them to you. At a meeting down here two weeks ago
I referred to those Welsh 'silly billies' seeking an independent Wales. I added that Mr Enoch- Powell—himself a Welshman—had advocatsd the repatriation of all immigrants on a volun- tary basis, and might himself, if faced with the issue, care to return to the land of his origin if it became a separate state! I felt this idea was in accordance with the strict logic by which he claims he judges everything, and I added faceti- ously that I would be willing to pay his fare! I hope many of your readers will join belatedly in the mirth all this created. Perhaps even Mr Powell will smile—and he is no 'silly billy.'
T. C. Skeffingtotz-Lodge 5 Povvis Grove, Brighton
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