17 JANUARY 1981, Page 16

Mote and beam

Sir: Was Richard Ingrams writing with his tongue in his cheek (10 January)? If not, who is the editor of Britain's leading smut and gossip compendium to complain 'that we are entering upon a new period of squalor and unpleasantness' — or, for that matter, to protest 'against the oncoming tide of rubbish and humbug'? If ever there was an instance of rubbish and humbug, this was it.

Chaim Bermant 18 Hill Rise, London NW11