30 DECEMBER 2000, Page 23

Not so clever

From Mr Robert Love Sir: The true 'fatal error' (Taal error', 9 December) was made not by Mark Palmer's computer but by its owner on the day he bought it. It beggars belief that any- one could use a computer as a crucial tool of trade for three years without once having understood the word 'backup'.

Mark Palmer may be clever enough to join the literary elite who write for The Spec- tator, but he is too stupid to own a computer.

Robert Love

Luzern, Switzerland