On iniquity
Sir: John Rowan Wilson's book review last week contained wise reflections on current trends in journalism, television, the cinema and the theatre, such as I have longed to see presented by someone wbo could catch the ear of our intellectuals and publicists—that, for the sake of money or out of mere perversity, they and the advertisement indus- try are depraving our society (or would do so were it not for the basic good sense and right feeling of our young people).
I wonder, sir, whether you might not reflect on his message. It has seemed to me that for some time the SPECTATOR has sought to catch the market by a deliberate policy of offering corrupt advice to young people. Mr John Rowan Wilson's own article of a few months ago (written with all the authority of 'Our Medical Correspondent' and en- titled, 1 think, 'What shall I tell my daughter?') was a case in point.
Last week. Mr Simon Raven's piece, 'A letter to my son,' offers, as a complete philosophy of life for adolescents, the pursuit of as much selfishness and self-indulgence as is compatible with an eye to the main chance. That this is most persuasively written, and that it is sprinkled with a few grains of common sense, makes it all the more insidious. J. L. Lord 690 Antrim Road, Belfast 15, Northern Ireland
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