14 JULY 2007, Page 17

Arresting issue

Sir: Nobody wants The Spectator to be con- sistent, or to follow any party line. Its readers expect (and in my case hope) to disagree with many of the opinions expressed in its pages. But until your leading article of 7 July (Hearts and Minds') The Spectator pos- sessed two rare and valuable qualities. It was undeceived by conventional wisdom, and it could be assumed to be on the side of liberty against arbitrary power. Your support for 90- day detention, justified by the cult-like, ir- rational invocation of the events of 11 September 2001, means that it has lost those qualities. It is now just another magazine Peter Hitchens London WS