LETTERS
Distant voices
Sir: I know it is difficult for Spectator columnists to welcome change, particularly where this occurs in an institution with colonial associations.
Even so, Myles Harris's attack on the changes in the BBC World Service is unwarranted CA thinner voice', 19 November). As someone who listens to the World Service a great deal, the differences appear to me to be small and, on the whole, positive.
There has been an increase in serious discussion programmes and a decrease in the amateur quality of presentation. The endearing directness of presenters con- tinues — like their Radio 3 colleagues, they regularly inform us of their difficulty in managing technical equipment, the weather in London, and so on.
Might I suggest that the real reason for Myles Harris's disappointment with the World Service lies in his comparison of hearing it in Ethiopia and in London. To appreciate the World Service properly, I recommend being in a country which uses a non-Roman alphabet and a language ling- uistically unrelated to the Indo-European tongues.
To a current expatriate, Myles Harris's complaint sounds very similar to those of returned tourists bemoaning the lack of flavour of their holiday pastis when drunk in England on a November day.
Susan Gessler
15/2 Efrata, Jerusalem, Israel
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