19 JANUARY 1985, Page 21

Footnote on Watkins

Sir: Mr Alan Watkins is undoubtedly one of the greatest journalists (with the possi- ble exceptions of yourself, Sir, and Mr St Loe Strachey) ever to write for the Specta- tor, the Observer, or indeed any paper living or defunct. Even the noted Mr Auberon Waugh, whose columns I rarely read, fearing that a slur may be cast on Muslims or the Monarch, the Sikhs or Satan, must yield him the pas.

When therefore your correspondent Miss Mary Kenny (Books, 12 January) informs us in a learned and solitary foot- note that `LMF: Mr Alan Watkins's term means "Lack of Moral Fibre" ', the mind boggles. From what dark depths of wizar- dry was the phrase conjured up? Or is it tool, like Mr Denis Healey's 'Silly Billy', one of those coinages which are fastened on to great men merely because they have become famous?

I think we should be told.

G. Chowdharay-Best

27 Walpole Street, London SW3