Sta,—Like, probably, many of your readers, I am little concerned
about the rights and wrongs of the difference of opinion between Mr. Fairlie and Lady Violet. It is, of course, important to the people concerned; but of much more importance than the examples Mr. Fairlie quoted was the meat of his article— the pointing out of the existence of what he so neatly describes as 'The Establishment.'
I believe that by inventing this phrase he has performed a most useful service. It is one of those expressions which serve to focus and give new meaning to facts one already knows of, like 'the managerial revolution,' for ex- ample. Like any other useful tool of thought and discussion, it does not want to be over- worked, though it certainly will be, but used properly it is truly illuminating.
Mr. Fairlie could take it one step farther, if I am not being too obvious. The Establish- ment has pups—establishments with a small 'e.' There is one in every town, and there aro also subsidiary establishments, as it were, at different levels below the primary one.
I do not suggest it is a bad thing, or a good one either. I suggest it is probably inevitable. No doubt there is an Establishment in Soviet Russia, as I am sure there is in America, and probably among the Apa Tani and the Sea Dyaks. But it is excellently useful to have the fact pointed out.—Yours faithfully,
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