29 MARCH 1968, Page 31

Sir: Mr Arthur Shenfield is having some fine fun with

his bad economists (22 March). Whether the distinguishing mark of G. D. H. Cole was or was not 'a fecund and facile mediocrity' is I suppose a matter of opinion; but will you allow me to put the record straight by mentioning that when the university of Oxford 'stooped' to appointing him to a chair (over twenty years ago now) it was not a chair of eco- nomics, but of social and political theory—on which, perhaps, Mr Shenfield is less of an ex- Pert.