Mr Crosland's small talk
Sir: Your extremely funny story of my post-general-election dinner with Mr and Mrs Michael Clark gave great pleasure. But, alas for accuracy, such a dinner never oc- curred. (I mention-the fact only be- cause you yourself have recently enjoined on the editor of the Guardian the need for a minimum accuracy even in funny stories.) I have not, unfortunately, seen Mr or Mrs Clark since the general election (though Mr Clark wrote me a kind letter of personal com- miseration); I once dined with them six years ago; but since my memory fails with age I have no recollection of the precise pudding situation on that occasion.
But I shamefacedly acknowledge my deficiencies on two counts. My capacity for small talk is extremely limited: and I do sometimes prefer cheese to pudding. It is a privilege to be rebuked on such matters by so well-known an arbiter elegantiae as the editor of the SPECTATOR, SO lately Lunchtime O'Booze.
Anthony Crosland House of Commons, London swl So it was six years ago, but then such stories mature like the cheese Mr Crosland sometimes prefers to pudding. And I regret Mr Cros- land's information is no more accurate than the Guardian's correspondent. I am not, nor ever was, Lunchtime O'Booze.—Editor,
SPECTATOR
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