7 FEBRUARY 2004, Page 26

Funding Fiona

From Crawford Macdonald Sir: I won't be availing myself of Fiona Millar's invitation to send my children to join a war zone where a 'tough and inspiring head [is] determined to drag [a] school out of the league-table gutter' (Diary, 31 January). Like Messrs Letwin and Blair I prefer the comparative certainty of good education now rather than the possibility of it in the future. And so I am paying for my own children's education, thus saving the taxpayer the cost of it. And what's more — and this should give Ms Millar a nice warm feeling — I am also paying through my taxes for her children's education. Not bad for a 'mandatory "giving something back" '.

Crawford Macdonald

East Molesey, Surrey