7 APRIL 1990, Page 26

Sir: Harry Phibbs' article reminded me of the time I

took Nizametdin Akhmetov, the Bashkir poet who had spent 20 years in Soviet prisons, labour camps and psychiat- ric hospitals, round London. We came across tramps who were sleeping in the tunnel of Tottenham Court Road station. He looked at them with some bemusement then said with a grim smile: 'What you need is a Soviet militia. That will clear them away.'

Helen Szamuely

72 Loftus Road, London W12