SIR; I would like to pick out one, rather typical,
point in Mr. Henry Fairlie's lengthy reply to Lord Boothby's letter. It has the virtue unusual with Mr. Fairlie of being succinct. 'As for the alleged "personal smear" there was none. If the facts are as he now states them....' Can a journalistic smear be reduced to fewer letters than are contained in the word 'if'?
[Henry Fairlie writes: 'I will most certainly accept Lord Boothby's, account of the origins of the United Europe movement as one view of the motives behind it. I doubt whether history will accept it as the most convincing one. I cannot agree with him that any politician's association with concerns interested in trading with Eastern Europe is entirely devoid of political significance: and this is all that I ever said. These, anyhow, seem to me issues on which even a middle-aged journalist may differ from a mature one.
'Mr. Graham Greene is a very pretty novelist.'— Editor, Spectator.]
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