21 OCTOBER 1989, Page 30

Vulgar commoners

Sir: Mr Haycraft (Letters, 19 August) appears to prefer `vulgar' to 'common' as a term of disapproval. The 27th Lord Craw- ford called Marquess Curzon 'inexpressibly common'; I doubt whether 'vulgar' would do there. An acquaintance of mine once described a friend's father as 'rather a common General', invoking red tabs worn in the service of the Pay Corps or the. RASC, rather than a Murat or Macarthur. Let us keep both adjectives, though a House of Vulgarians might often be no misnomer for what goes on in the Palace of Westminster.

Freddy Hurdis-Jones

Giudecca 681/A, Venice, Italy