Breaking embargoes Sir: Your editorial (`Jumping the gun', 11 June)
on the recondite topic of the Sunday Times's book reviewing policy was non- sense.
Periodicals often review books days and even weeks before their official publication date, just as books are nowadays often on sale in bookshops well in advance. Sunday newspapers traditionally break publishing `embargoes' by reviewing books appearing up to the following Tuesday. Our new Book Section has, like the colour maga- zine, a longer reading life than the main paper. We therefore occasionally review books appearing up to the following Thurs- day — that is an extra 48 hours past the Tuesday protocol — where certain books are already in shops and, usually, widely publicised in advance.
Contrary to your assertion, we never review books not yet in bookshops. There would be no point. We do, however, try to review at least 30 books an issue within a fortnight of publication, as a service to authors, booksellers and readers. It is this policy which has annoyed rival literary editors, who frequently review books so late they have been consigned to book- shops' back shelves. You reviewed Foucault's latest volume six weeks after publication, sadly beyond the bookshop life of many hardback these days. We have had not a single complaint except from our rivals.
You speciously describe us as 'Murdoch- owned', presumably to imply some lack of independence in our reviewing policy. You will doubtless wish in future to be known as the 'Conrad Black-owned' Spectator.
Simon Jenkins,
Editor, Books Section, Sunday Times, 1 Pennington Street, London El
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