25 MARCH 2000, Page 34

From Mr Simon Morgan Sir: I have been watching the

career of my erstwhile fellow student and JCR president of St Catherine's College, Oxford, the pre- sent Secretary of State for Northern Ire- land, with increasing irritation.

The Peter Mandelson (or `Handleme- bum', as we called him) I remember was so concerned about the weakness of his own chin that he hid it in a rather dubious beard. If the term 'chinless wonder' could apply to anybody, then I would nominate the Hon- ourable Member for Hartlepool before the likes of Captains Nairac and Westmacott any day.

Simon Morgan

Great Braxted, Essex