An affront to decency
Sir: Whether the editor of the Literary Review is an anti-Semite, and certainly whether its proprietor is a gentleman (Notebook, 17 September), is of limited relevance to the boycott of that journal. The issue is the anti-semitic article they published and the continuing failure of either Miss Greenwood (as implied in Sir Stephen Spender's letter) or Mr Attallah (in his letter to you) to recognise their lapse in judgment, still less show remorse about the offence it has caused. As editor of six periodicals in my time, I'm quite prepared to accept that we all publish the occasional `rotten article'. But judgment is what an editor is there to exercise, and unless an editor can recognise his error, at least in retrospect, it is understandable that he or she will lose the confidence of prospective contributors.
Michael Rubenstein
I Westeroft Cottages, 134, Greencroft Gardens, London NW6
Previous page
