lan Hanmett, J. C. II . Murray, Lord A ltrinchant
and others, Rosalynde Ainslie, Mavis Singleton
British Transport Daphne Hereward Eden Memoirs Richard Feilden Left-over Left Michael Foot, A. E. G. Wright What Khrushchev Said Pat Sloan The Personal Loans Scheme H. J. Witheridge Scottish Poetry Sydney Goodsir Smith Paraffin Stoves Frank Blackaby The Lily White Boys Wayland Young Zambra Fermin Hall Hair Apparent H. W. Skelly Employment of Prisoners Frederic P. Thompson
Boycott?
Sni,—Your leading article 'Boycott?' represents in a quite classical manner the fatuity of the liberal in- telligence at work. For reasons that may or may not he completely convincing a number of people have decided to call a boycott of South African goods, and most people who are ever aware of such things are aware of this thing now. I can sec as well as you can dozens of reasons for and against it, but, unlike you, I can see even more clearly that this is no longer the point, If anything could be worse than having a boycott at the wrong moment or not having one at the right moment, it is to have a boycott that misfires : which is what your editorial seems cal- culated to do. I am not so concerned with building an elaborately watertight intellectual and moral argument, topped by the triumphant conclusion that 'we would urge that [the boycott] should be post- poned,' as I am with asking myself, 'What course of action open to me in the circumstances (which include in pride of place the fact that some people have proclaimed one and everybody knows it) will best serve the ends I want to realise?' I am simply horrified by the damage your article may do, based as it is upon the purely hypothetical notion that if the boycott were postponed a later date would be the time to support it. The harsh truth is that we are frequently faced by choices that we are not free to construct for ourselves. The liberal solution of nevertheless attempting to construct one and then casting our vote for it is a kind of nonsense that makes one lose patience even with the Spectator.— Yours faithfully,
IAN HAMNETT 72 Northumberland Street, Edinburgh, 3
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