4 AUGUST 1990, Page 22

A talent to abuse

Sir: There is probably no point in taking issue with Paul Johnson over his summing- up of the Rushdie affair (The media, 28 July), but one point (and probably to Johnson a very small one) is so breathtak- ing in its arrogance that I can't bear to let it go by. This is the claim that Rushdie 'has little obvious talent'. You don't have to be a member of the literary Left that Johnson despises so much to find this fatuous. Even left-wingers no doubt occasionally find Rushdie cussed, but only a fanatic could describe him as talentless. Is Mr Johnson perhaps a Muslim?

Mike Petty

Editorial Director,

Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 2 Soho Square,

London W1