Information overload
Sir: I was wrong to accuse Edward Heath- coat Amory of 'sloppy journalism' in writ- ing about the Lottery (Letters, 21 Novem- ber). He reveals in his reply that he did actually visit the National Lottery website before writing his article. This makes his position more serious. Instead of being merely sloppy, he is exposed as something far worse: totally uninterested in discover- ing the truth.
Of course, a scrupulous journalist should always be suspicious of any adman's handi- work. But the National Lottery website is not that. The section devoted to searching for good causes is simply an easily accessi- ble database of 32,000 names of Lottery beneficiaries, arranged by postcode. To make no reference whatsoever to this mountain of data in writing an assessment of the Lottery is a lot worse than sloppy journalism: it is utterly biased journalism. Most unlike The Spectator.
Robin Wight
WCRS Limited, 5 Golden Square, London W1
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