23 OCTOBER 1971, Page 21

. . . and why

Sir: I am appalled to see that The Spectator has adopted that pointlessly snobbish convention of heading some of the Letters to the Editor by such unnecessary information as 'From Lt Col A. Soldier,' and at the same time not putting any heading for the correspondence of lesser mortals. It is arguable that there is some value in heading every letter, as in the Times, but would it not be more sensible to return to your older format?

Josslyn Gore-Booth Balliol College, Oxford. This device can indeed look snobbish. Its purpose, however,is to inform people • of the identity of letter writers, when such identity is not clear from the signature. — Editor, The Spectator.