Nice letter?
Sir: The wife who is disappointed because her husband fails to notice her smart new hat may he dis- armed by his remarking that he would soon notice it if she were not smart.
Isn't this the right reply to Mr Armitage's not altogether 'nice' letter?
1 suppose your readers accept the SPECTATOR for what it is worth and all its contradictions but expect it to be good, reasonable, entertain- ing and controversial in that order.
We do not write in furiously to say that we approve. We write in furiously with choice sarcasm, abuse and question-begging epithets when we do not approve. Sir Harold Nicolson called these letter-writers doryphores presum- ably because such warriors had very long pricking spears. Sir Denis Brogan, I am sure, will understand.
But if your readers, who I imagine are a Conservative/ middle class /academic amalgam, are affronted too much they will generally not protest. They will quietly fade away,
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