18 APRIL 1970, Page 24

Radical scholarship

Sir: I write in all seriousness to suggest that the SPECTATOR invite Mr John Sparrow to argue in an article the 'non-Chomsky' case against the war in Vietnam. Mr Sparrow feels (11 April) that 'the case against the war is so strong as to need no labouring'. It should be pointed out that there are a num- ber of British experts on the question—Sir Robert Thompson springs immediately to mind—who takes a point of view diametric- ally opposite to the one that Mr Sparrow feels is so obvious.