14 NOVEMBER 1952, Page 18

SIR,—What particularly interested me in Mr. Stockwood's article was his

palliation of Mr. Bevan's use of the term "vermin." An offensive or incorrect remark, to be followed up, if circumstances seem to require it, by an apology or a plea that the offender did not really mean what he said, has come to be a regular technique in certain political circles; but I think it will need more than Mr. Stockwood's ingenuity to convince the average reader of the Spectator.—Yours faithfully, Compton, Knowle, Nr. Birmingham. F. H. VINEY.