Sir: Although I unfortunately missed the original article, I was
nevertheless delighted to read Mr F. R. MacKenzie's spirited defence of himself and his opinions.
However, like the eighteen-yearold chit, J. Maule, I have little difficulty in understanding my native tongue. I fear nonetheless, that writers of descriptive prose deliberately confuse my bump of location, perhaps in order to be satirical or obscure.
For instance, "persecution in occupied territories in the form of imprisonment without trial, torture, collective punishments, destruction of property, expulsions," and the re-creation of large numbers of refugees from an indiginous population, quoted by Mr MacKenzie from the reports of all those worthy bodies, is surely describing the British coercive actions in Ulster, and had been located else where by accident or literary purpose.
Perhaps now, Mr MacKenzie and all those quotable bodies and associations will correctly geographically site the inhumanities they so rightly complain of, and • perhaps the editor of The Spectator will award them a new writing prize for doing so.
Laurie Smith
122 Layshot, Harlow, Essex.
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