22 FEBRUARY 1975, Page 4

Sir; Mr Beverley Nichols's article 'My right to die' (Spectator

February 8) is sincere and painful enough but that it "may help, in however small a measure, to bring comfort to many" is doubtful. Indeed it may frighten some people to death. To say that this is a very old issue is not to deny the skill and deep feeling with which Mr Nichols describes "the serpents of pain". But this graphic phrase does not remove the problem. He quotes a friend as saying that "in a civilised society, it would be as easy to buy the ingredients of suicide, with precise directions, as it is to buy a first-aid kit." This is nonsense. Pain is no joke, neither is the sanctity of life. And intolerable personal suffering is not the yardstick by which to judge it.

Clifford Makins 8 Rothwell Street; London WI