Letters

Times of trouble

Sir: In your Notebook last week, your carefully thought-out observations on Sir James Goldsmith were preceded by an unthinking item in which you opined that The Times journalists' pay claim of 61 per cent was a sYmptom of mental derangement. The figure may appear startling, even risible, at first sight, but we did not pluck it out of thin air. It is a thoroughly researched reflection of the extent to which our salaries have fallen behind those of comparable groups over the past half-dozen years. Even our own management, as part of the jam it is offering us for tomorrow, is talking of pay increases in the region of 45 per cent, only 16 per cent short of what we calculate we need to catch up. .Ifit is wrong for us •to seek the first instalment of what is in fact a phased increase while we are still idle through no fault of our own, then logically we should not be paid at all. Some silly people believe we are very lucky to be paid for seven Months of doing nothing. I find it frustrating and humiliating, and so do most of my Colleagues. We are desperate to regain the right to earn our keep. If we do not stay together, the papers will die. We have been Punished enough for being innocent bystanders during a dispute which has nothing to do with us. You will forgive us if we do not feel grateful. Are we now to lie down and let the next wave of inflation roll over us as well? Are we to be punished still further by being denied our usual July pay increase? Are we mentally deranged in wanting to maintain our living standards and our morale? Or do You believe we should humbly put in for a pay-cut. toughing our forelocks the while? Den van der Vat The Times New Printing House Square London WC1

The Pope in Poland

Sir: Neal Ascherson's final despatch from Cracow and his reflections on the Pope's Europe (Spectator, 16 June) have helped to complete the record of that momentous visit.

Christianity arose in a land subject to a foreign power. Was the Pope not saying, as was said then: 'Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's'? Pamela Matthews 1, Edwardes Place, London W8

California dreaming

Sir: Peter Ackroyd's article 'California dreaming' (Spectator, 16 June) deserves commendation. For someone such as myself, turning to Rolling Stone for the clarification of the words and music of Henley, Frey, Meisner, Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon, it was a pleasant surprise to find such an article in a British journal. Of course, David Ackles in American Gothic in 1972 laid the groundwork for the developing awareness of the last frontier, but it's reassuring to find Peter Ackroyd, and others presumably, can be struck by the reality behind the imagery. P. Newman Park Garth, Hessey, North Yorkshire

Change of life

Sir: With Taki's talk of flying blood and the antics of pugilists and Jeffrey Bernard with his estate and mentions of the Turf Club and Hartington (did you know he wore white socks to the Derby?) I am not so sure the latter's name should continue to appear below the heading 'Low life'.

I suggest they swop columns for a while — after all Taki will have much scope to write about low life in Xenon, Studio 54 etc. I look forward with anticipation to the change.

Neil Mackwood 12, Knivet Street, Fulham, London SW6

Passé

Sir: I have just read the latest, unsavoury, contribution from your columnist Taki. It left a taste in the mouth. If the Spectator has to have a gossip columnist could you not find someone more suitable? It is not rherely a matter of the tone, a tone best described as gold teeth flashing. Nor does the man's absolutely unerring eye for the passe necessarily render him unfit for the work. It is his utter absence of style. The Spectator has always had style: not for the first time, perhaps, Mr T does not fit in. He has obviously met almost everybody, if only once. Please send him away to meet the rest.

Antony Sharpies 35 Montholme Road, Battersea, London SW11

Political myths

Sir: Reviewing Isaiah Berlin's important collection of essays on contra mundum ideologists (Spectator, 9 June) Anthony Storr suggests that Georges Sorel turned out 'perverse and misguided' because 'he was an admirer of Mussolini'. As Sorel died in the very year in which Mussolini came to power, this scarcely amounts to much. Many people admired the Duce even into the following decade, among them Churchill, Shaw and Freud. What influence the 'pensioned bookworm' had upon the evolution of fascist thought remains a matter of debate, but it is essential to attempt to evaluate the particular sociological insights of Sorel, as much as those of other thinkers, in their own appropriate context and as objectively as possible. (All this 'Wagner was a nazi, Saint Paul was an anti-semite, Plato was a fascist' stuff is always rather pointless.) The problem especially in the case of the French writer, as A. James Gregor observes in his Introduction to Metapolitics (1971), is that 'everyone seems to "interpret" Sorel's work in accordance with his own lights'. It is not enough to reject his concept of the 'myth' by woolly memories of marxian 'myths' about inter-war political events.

Robert Stanton Liskeard, Cornwall

Salute to JAC

Sir: I was delighted to read Richard West's paragraph in Notebook (26 May) about the Jac crosswords. Indeed its well-deserved inclusion in the Spectator was most timely in a week when crossword devotees were being diverted away to attempt the 2500th celebratory puzzle in the Listener. I have felt that Jac's series of crosswords has too long remained unmentioned in your columns and elsewhere.

I have enjoyed Jac's puzzles ever since they began in 1971, and, like.Mr West, with practice, came to appreciate Jac's style and approach to clueing. My admiration for his puzzles is such that I wrote an appreciation of them for Games and Puzzles magazine in April 1976 and received a most kindly reply from Jac as a result.

I.have become convinced that Jac's contribution to the art of the crossword is as significant as that of the more fashionable Ximenes and his successor. Azed. As a regular compiler myself. I appreciate the skill that is required to produce a weekly crossword of Jac's standard with great originality, but little gimmickry.

The Listener crossword has achieved its fame justly, but here through the efforts of a large number of compilers. Jac's style, originality and sheer productivity must surely permit him to be regarded as one of today's leading exponents of the crossword.

would be interested to know how many other Jac solvers there are who can claim to have attempted most or all of his 412 puzzles. Do others, like me, feel that the comparatively recent introduction of `set' grids is an unnecessary restriction to his style and one which, as a compiler. I would find at times too limiting?

Tom W Johnson Rivendell, 26 Weaver Side, Nantwich, Cheshire