LETTERS
`Private Eye's' honour
Sir: I write to protest at the disgraceful libel upon myself and the magazine which I edit which appeared in Charles Moore's Diary (18 February).
His first item stated that Mr Peter McKay is a contributor to Private Eye. It would be difficult to imagine a more vile, offensive or damaging allegation. It is of course untrue, as one telephone call could so easily have established.
My lawyers advise me that damages in the region of £1,000,000 could reasonably be expected accompanied by a front-page apology along the lines of 'The Spec says sorry'.
However, I am prepared to let the matter drop on this occasion on the grounds that Mr Moore has given everyone a good laugh. A man indignantly attacking a true story in the Standard Diary by writing an untrue story in his own Spectator Diary is funny enough to appear in Wallace Arnold.
Ian Hislop
Editor, Private Eye, 6 Carlisle Street, London W1
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