28 JUNE 2003, Page 25

Critics are chairbound

From The Rt Hon The Lord Garel-Jones Sir: Under Lord Tebbit's logic (Letters, 21 June) the art correspondent of The Spectator should be exhibiting at the Tate, the opera correspondent should have sung in the chorus at the Royal Opera House, and

Mark Steyn should be a film extra — if not a minor star.

The corrida is not a participatory sport. Nor is it a dare-devil Evel Knievelesque spectacle.

As it happens, I have stood in front of bulls at capeas on a few occasions in my youth. It is a frightening experience.

Tristan Garel-Jones House of Lords, London SVv'l