22 SEPTEMBER 2001, Page 34

The Clive James rule

From Mr Christopher Bray Sir: The best way I know for remembering when to use the word scepticism and when cynicism (Mind your language, 15 September) is what I call the Clive James rule. A sceptic, he wrote, thinks the TV soap opera Dallas absurd; a cynic thinks other people don't.

Christopher Bray

London SE3