LETTERS
Doubtful beneficiaries
Sir: Your paean for Professor Hayek ('A heroic life', 28 March) so moved me that I felt it deserved a wider distribution, partic- ularly among those who are unaware how much they have benefited from his ideas. I made a large number of Xerox copies and on Saturday set out to distribute them among those who have had their liberty restored and been freed from serfdom: I mean, those who infest West End doorways and live in cardboard boxes under arches. I managed to escape with little injury, thanks to their no doubt self-induced lack of speed and stamina.
Professor Hayek's teaching seems, alas, to be equally unheeded at Central Office. I have written a number of times, to no effect, asking the Conservative Party to abolish not only the three greatest parasitic squanderers, the armed services, but also that greatest interferer with the liberty of the subject, the police. I am certain that, as you have urged the abandonment of univer- sal free health ('Can pay, won't Pay', 15 February) you will agree with me that those who acquire property should pay for its protection and not expect the state to do so.
By the way, did I read somewhere that The Spectator doesn't earn its keep but relies on a hand-out? I trust this is not hav- ing a deleterious effect on your and your contributors' moral fibre.
Charles Fyffe
52 Holmdale Road, London NW6
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