6 OCTOBER 1961, Page 15

SIR,—Neither Mr. Levin's impertinent comment upon my personal appearance nor

his McCarthyite technique of isolating two words of my speech at the Liberal Party Assembly from their context worries me unduly. His failure, however, to realise the difference between de facto and de jure recogni- tion of the East German Government is both pathetic and disturbing in one who was an interesting, if always somewhat inaccurate, political reporter.

If, however, the Western powers are able to reach a settlement on Berlin without according de facto recognition to the East Gentian Govern- ment, I willingly offer to eat the braces about which Mr. Levin writes so tediously.

IVOR R. M. DAVIES 29 Salmon Road, Oxford