LETTERS
From Professor A. J. Ayer, J. R. L. Can ningham, Michael Armstrong, Paul Code nette, John Crookshank, Dorothy Dickson Beverley Nichols, Lady de Zulueta. Mar garet Knight, Patrick W. Hardy, David M Courage, John Fisher, A. L. N. Russell. Pro- f ssor Harry A. Ree, Elizabeth Ackroyd.
Open letter to Edward Boyle Sir : I confess to having failed to understa that when Mr Worsthorne recommend that the Conservatives should indulg working-class prejudices without panderin to them (25 October), what he meant sa that they should not indulge them auks they coincided with principles that coulu be independently justified. As a politica rule of conduct this would seem to be u exceptionable though it still leaves roo for disagreement over principles. I mu.si. however, add that what Mr Worsthorne now says he meant is not the most nature interpretation of what he actually said.
Mr Sherman (Letters, 8 November) ha mistaken my point. It should have be clear to him, in the context, that I wa referring not to past Conservative measur but to present Conservative propaganda. said that the policy which I took Al Worsthorne to be advocating had, amon other things, the effect of promoting ram discrimination; and surely it does.
I am puzzled by Mr Sherman's referenc to `marxist mythology'. Since he himse speaks of Sir Edward Boyle's workin class and middle class constituents. h presumably admits the existence of soda classes. Does he then believe that NI Worsthome was mistaken in speaking of ruling class, or in supposing that the Con servative party is interested in preservin the position of this class, or in implyin that the economic 'interests of differen classes do not always coincide?
Mr Weidberg's introduction (Letters, I November) of the question of my attitud to the present Greek government is irrelevant that I do not propose to discs it. I can, however, assure him that I full share his disapproval of the action of I present Labour government in refusin entry to the holders of British passports what would appear to be solely ma grounds.
Mr Parry's style (Letters, 15 Novembe is no better than his manners. But what appears to be saying is that my wife and have sought to improve our social posit! by putting our small boy down for Et and that this should debar me fro criticising the Conservative party. The lac are that I sent my older son to Eton, sew teen years ago, partly in consequence of n1 having been there myself; that my six Y old son is not entered there because intend to send him to a day school London; that this could be either W minster or Hampstead Comprehensive either is willing to take him when the ti comes; that my wife, who Mr Parry h gratuitously brought into the argument. d not send her daughter to a fee-pay secondary school and is opposed to 0 sending our son to one; that I" am in to minds about the question because my bell that the division of the educational cyst into a private and public sector is social harmful conflicts practically with my bel that the work done in certain parts of private_ sector ,reaches a, higher: aca standard; that whether I give way to it in Ibis instance, my desire to do the best for my children under the existing system is not incompatible with a desire that the gystem should be changed; and that there uo reason in logic or morality why these considerations should limit my political freedom of choice or expression.
A. J. Ayer New College, Oxford
Sic John Kirkcaldy's letter (15 November) reiterates the often heard cry that there is no heir apparent to Sir Edward Boyle in the Conservative party and that the country is the worse for this. An endless repetition of this rather vague viewpoint can do nothing but damage to the Conservative party, which already struggling against the impression that not only is it unaware of the problems facing a majority of the electorate, but it does not want to know about the problems in the first place. One of the greatest failures of the present government is the neglect of what Lord Balniel calls the `vulnerable in society'; hr is ensuring that the next Conservative goverment comes into office determined that heir plight shall become the concern of us All. Once the preparations which the Con- rvatiVes are making in opposition to deal with the problems of the old and the sick and the handicapped become recognised the allegation that the liberal wing of the Con- servative party has lost its influence will be seen as the nonsense which it is J. R. L. Cuningham 36 Regent Street, Cambridge
Previous page
