Uncivil Waugh
Sir: Mr Auberon Waugh's comments on the "violent, stunted men of the north" (his words) in The Spectator of July 17, that "it seems obvious that they will never be found gainful employment outSide some Stalin-style slave labour camp" are not only highly topical and provocative, as they were no doubt intended to be, but also illustrative of the attitude of Mr Waugh and many of his countrymen in the southern part of the United Kingdom, who enjoy the fruits of industrialisation in other parts of the country, and the advantage of having developed their heavy industries at a convenient distance from their own environment. Mr Waugh can reply, correctly, that as a taxpayer he has been subsidising these stunted men, presumably to keep them at a comfortable distance. He has also been subsidising a number of men in Derby and Bristol, but that is by the way. My purpose in writing is to suggest that the violent resentment shown by the Upper Clyde Shipyard workers and the present, foolish pantomime of ' workers ' control' by the shop stewards at Clydebank is further proof that we are a divided nation. In spite of increasing affluence the working man has not been persuaded that his interests are also those of his employer. No doubt this failure has been exploited by the Communists and anarchists, who have succeeded in deluding the workers into a belief in the existence of a 'class war.' Had the ground not been fertile it could not have been cultivated so well. Mr Waugh and his neighbours should recognise that the stunted men are their brothers and fellow citizens and feel a sense of shame, as I do, at what has come to pass. But perhaps Mr Waugh was, obliquely, confessing to such an awareness.
J. D. Catrepbe/I 58 Ormonde Avenue, Glasgow S4
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