Cheques and balances
Sir: In the Spectator’s Notes (13 October) we learn how to write a cheque, including ‘the Geoffrey Wheatcroft technique of sending it promptly but omitting the date’. I have been puzzling over these words. They are obviously meant to be sarcastic or abusive or something, but what do they mean? When I was younger and even poorer I certainly used various expedients to avoid immediate payment of unwelcome debts. You can postdate a cheque or forget to sign it or simply not send it, but if it’s merely undated, then any recipient can add the date and present the cheque forthwith. Perhaps this is just an example of ‘the Charles Moore technique’ for writing a column, or a little welcome variety amid your columnist’s somewhat attenuated collection of anecdotes about hunting, Eton and Debo.
Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Bath, Wiltshire
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