28 JANUARY 1989, Page 26

Sir: Your note (Portrait of the week, 5 November) that

the BBC World Service is abandoning its signature tune came as a blow to a faithful listener. I was not aware that the brass band tune was so powerfully evocative of Britain's imperial past or so offensive to the liberal conscience of the BBC. What is next on the list? Will the BBC abandon 'God Save the Queen' because it is 'stridently and inappropriate- ly' monarchistic?

Alexander Reford

St Michael's College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada