22 JULY 2000, Page 26

From Mr Dominic Pemberton Sir: Perhaps Simon Featherstone of the

For- eign Office could explain to Spectator read- ers why Senator Gramm's proposal to con- clude a free-trade agreement with the UK is `barmy'. To a fully paid-up, card-carrying member of the US-must-be-doing-some- thing-right-to-be-where-it-is-today club, this seems like an eminently sensible idea. Dominic Pemberton Singapore