11 FEBRUARY 1989, page 32

Happy Pole

Sir: I have already received two issues of The Spectator, dated 14 and 21 January (were you celebrating the New Year until 7 January?) and I am delighted. I got im - mediately......

Stern Rebuke

Sir: I was fascinated to read the extracts from the interview Nicholas Bethel! had in 1977 with Yitzak Shamir, present Prime Minister of Israel (`Sharp methods...', 28 January).......

Letters Open Letter From Prague

Dear Friends: Ivan Jirous and Jiri Tichy have been arrested in October of last year for protesting against the increasingly rep- ressive measures taken by the Czechoslo- vak......