24 JULY 1971, Page 29

A wind in the city

Sir: I too have heard what Skinflint reports (17 July), that certain City fathers are perturbed by the freethinking of those who occupy our visitor's pulpit. In fact, I am reliably informed that St Mary-leBow has recently been dubbed the City's Trojan Horse! But Skinflint is mistaken when he suggests that you, sir, were invited merely to counterbalance that impression. In the event, as I had hoped, you sent far more than a mere zephyr from the pulpit into the City. This mistral from so unexpected a quarter, ruffled, if not rattled, certain unexamined assumptions, those fragile ramparts behind which not a few of my parishioners go about their business. " Timeo Danaos "?

Joseph McCulloch St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, London