19 NOVEMBER 1977, Page 18

Class

Sir: Certain passages in my article on Class (12 November) became casualties of last minute cuts, often unavoidable in the publication of a weekly newspaper. As a result of these omissions certain themes of the article have become obscured. These are, that the standard criticism of the British class system mistakes a differentiated but open society for a closed or caste society; that the many examples I listed were representative of a wide social mobility; and that the critics were working towards a system in which all differences and distinctions are obliterated except those between rulers and subjects.

P. T. Bauer The London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2