Lefty to righty
Sir: As one of the humble lefties so vehemently denounced by Mr Potts (Letters, January 1), I am surprised that proponents of the proposed Rhodesian independence settlement take so lightly the deepfelt abhorrence of many of this country's citizens regarding the terms advocated by Sir Alec Douglas-Home. Your editorial of that day calls for a Greater Britain with confidence in the values which we have to offer to the rest of the world's communities; unobjectionable, but I fear that Mr Potts has a different interpretation regarding what these values might be. He might, for instance, emphasise realpolitik pragmatism, imperial political objectives, cultural myopia or even perhaps economic determinism.
I feel guilty in case I do him an injustice, but I would prefer the more benevolent and permanent values of the English philosophical heritage; belief in the rectitude of the democratic process as expressed through a ballot box, freedom from authoritarian diktat, and belief in liberal and ethnic toleration and the ability to express opinion without hindrance from the state. It is because the terms fail to allow these criteria to measure their acceptance to the Rhodesian majority, that many will consider the evaluation that will take place in the next few months to be without merit or substance.
N. H. Balm forth St Margarets, 22 Ferndale Road, Woking, Surrey
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