24 APRIL 1971, Page 24

War crimes

Sir: Your comments and those of Mr Henry Fairlie lost a good deal of their impact by considering the case of Lt Calley in isolation from the remainder of the week's news.

The case and President Nixon's action seemed to me to follow the sequence: Individual Responsi- bility and Guilt becomes Universal Responsibility and Guilt becomes Individual Immunity and Inno- cence.

I submit that the same sequence may be observed in such other items as (a) 'The Queen has given instructions that the name of the Emperor of Japan be restored to the Roll of the Knights of the Garter,' (b) the continuing pressure for the release of Rudolf Hess and (c) the Easter story from Cal- vary, dateline AD 33.