A. matter of judgment
Sir: If I understand him correctly, your cor- respondent (Revd) C. V. Porter (20 March) believes that God is putting the British peo- ple (at least those who are neither dark- skinned nor card-carrying trade unionists) through his grinders because of our forebears' activities in the slave trade and because of the less attractive ephemeral side-effects of the Industrial Revolution. With the greatest respect for Mr Porter, I find the logic (and the justice) behind the visitations of his Nemesis-God hard to follow. After all, surely as nations go we hardly rate as Number One for the stinker prize? I would have thought that very recent history would have shown the Soviet Russians, Nazi Germans, militaristic Japanese and a gross of others to be a good deal worse in most respects, yet the Good Lord punishes them neither with the Rastafarians nor with the unions.
No, Mr Porter, I cannot see the wrath of God in the features of the barbarous Rastas nor in those of Arthur Scargill, but I can see a nasty abuse of a good-natured people grown a mite too guilt-conscious for its own good.
D. M. Toft
The White House, 22 West Side, London SW19
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