Watched and watcher
Sir The tirade by Beverley Nichols on the workers' (January 5) reminds me of the riposte given by Oscar Wilde when accused by the Warden of his college of loitering, "Wilde, every time I stand at the window I see you loitering in the quadrangle." "Sir" answered Wilde "Every time I am in the quadrangle I see you loitering at the window." Now, Mr Nichols, granted that there are lazy workmen, but, will you be prepared to follow round representatives of every class of person in this country noting how much money they earn or inherit, how they spend it and use their time, and what their contribution is to their fellow humans? I object very strongly to the obsessive curiosity people such as Mr Nichols constantly display towards those they so derisively term 'working class.' Unless he and his ilk are prepared for their lives and actions to come under similar scrutiny and analysis then advise him to consider the beam in his own eye rather than beholding the mote that is in his brother'seye. Maybe he thinks as another Wilde character "Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example what on earth is the use of them?" Being one of them I've often wondered myself.
V. Macvicar Ewhart Farm, nr. Farnham.
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