21 JUNE 1997, Page 24

Saintly sub-editors

Sir: If Alastair Forbes (Letters, 14 June) wants to know why his articles occasionally contain printing errors, I can tell him. It is because he writes barely intelligible sen- tences, typed singly spaced and scribbled over with emendations. He then faxes the stuff from Switzerland to The Spectator, sometimes losing one margin in transmis- sion.

The sub-editors who manage to get this amateurish mess on the page in any form that makes half sense deserve unreserved praise, not patronising criticism.

Christopher Howse

1 Ambrosden Avenue, London SW1