16 SEPTEMBER 2000, Page 30

No hatchet man

From Mr Michael Crick Sir: In your article on Michael Heseltine (Wane course', 9 September) you say that I began work on my biography of him 'deter- mined to do a hatchet job'. This is untrue. While I prefer to work independently of my subjects, I always approach them with an open mind. I let my research determine my judgment, favourable or unfavourable. Michael Crick Swerford, Oxfordshire