Young turks in hosiery
Sir: Auberon Waugh's analysis of Conser- vative candidates fighting the marginal seats (23 August) makes entertaining reading but otherwise appears to be shallow in judg- ment, rather snobbish and certainly, in one case, inaccurate.
For a start, as the candidate for 'fair Hitchin', I am no longer marketing manager of a corsetry company. Just to confuse Auberon Waugh still further and to bring him up to date, I am Director of the National Suggestions Centre, which pub- lishes a journal called What? I would be interested to know what he makes of that!
But why should he be so worried about the strong representation from the clothing trade? I am sure my short experience in corsetry has taught me the value of control. This fits in well with the need to restrain the rate of increase in public expenditure and generally to manage our economy with prudence!
The most astonishing aspect of the article is the assumption that the calibre and political views of the candidates can be reasonably accurately assessed from the single-sheet biographies provided by the Central Office and the kinds of jobs they do. A far more penetrating analysis is re- quired of these eighty-five Conservative candidates. To do this it means taking the trouble to meet a cross section of them
with a view to finding out their interests and ambitions and their attitudes to the kind of society which they would like to see evolve.
Even though Auberon Waugh says he has no great desire to meet us. I am sure that a second article based on proper re- search would carry greater conviction and would indeed be of greater value.
Richard Luce Roe Green House, Sandon, Buntingford, Herts
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