Dear readers
Sir: This is an old Welshman writing. He has just celebrated his ninetieth birthday. I claim to be the very oldest subscriber of the SPECTATOR-a regular reader since 1899 when residing in Chislehurst. The great paper arrives regularly by air mail every Saturday, I was a frequent contributor to its columns in the old days—on Indian topics. My case was that India should have an equality of status with every other unit in the Com-
monwealth. I was of course bit- terly attacked every week by re- tired officials of the old regime. It was great fun. I have a letter from the then editor, Mr Wilson Harris, stating that my letters were a 'feature' of the paper. I have just looked at a photo of the old Bom- bay Council taken in 1915, in Lord Willingdon's time. I am the only surviving member of the old group.
You have transformed the SPEC- TATOR, editing with truly consum- ate skill.
I rejoice to find the SPECTATOR more flourishing than ever; more power to your elbow.
J. D. Jenkins Hamerton House, Kahun Road, Poona 1. India
Sir: There is more wrong with your magazine at the moment than the lack of a few staples.
Of course you are entitled to hold strong views about our pos- sible entry to the Common Market but as a journal of some repute you would exert more influence if you presented a more balanced case: many of your readers are still undecided and your hysterical opposition can only have the opposite effect to that you desire.
As for 'Notes from the Under- ground', you are grossly over- doing that ancient but effective technique of stating an exaggerated view (which you oppose) in order to discredit it. It is essential to remain plausible but the views you print are so extreme as to he clearly seen as rubbish and the technique fails. (That stuff on 21 November about the Sunday news- papers' reviews ignoring non- London events, for example, as if the papers were doing any more than recognise the sad but un- disputed fact, yes, fact, that our culture is almost exclusively centred on the capital.) And do please take care that your desire to publish a lively and provocative paper does not lead you.to print a mass of trivia which to any thinking reader is unspeak- ably boring—the greatest crime of all.
C. D. Robins Withycut House, Enville Road, Bowdon, Cheshire
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