28 SEPTEMBER 2002, Page 34

From Mr Roy L. McCallum Sir: I am a city

person and I have never been on the back of a horse. However, I can recognise class envy at its worst when I see it, and if the government presses ahead with a ban on hunting after Sunday's remarkable demonstration, then there will be little doubt about its real motives.

If some 400,000 obviously respectable people cannot change the mind of the executive by peaceful means, they are entitled to conclude that only violence and hooliganism are effective. It isn't so very long ago that a fraction of the numbers seen on Sunday 'demonstrated' against the poll tax, using extreme violence and widespread damage to property. They were successful.

Roy L. McCallum

Glasgow