Humbug
Sir: It is seldom that one finds a Diary item that seems to beg as many questions as Alan Watkins's 'revelation' that Ian Har- greaves banished Ian Aitken from the pages of the New Statesman because he had writ- ten an article critical of religion, and that this banishment was linked in some curious way to the fact that Mr Hargreaves is said to be married to a 'non-conformist minister' (Diary, 29 June). If this is indeed the case, does it mean that Ian Hargreaves doesn't have a mind of his own and is, in short, hen- pecked — or what? Ian Hargreaves always seemed to me to have quite enough robust opinions of his own to have to bother him- self unduly over other people's.
Furthermore, to my knowledge Ian Hargreaves has himself been a Christian for more than 30 years, and I haven't noticed any particular intolerance of people who hold views at variance with his own.
As for whether Ian Aitken was 'dis- missed' from the New Statesman — for this or other misdemeanours — only the parties to this story can know for certain whether it is sheer humbug, and so it would perhaps be better to leave them to search their own consciences on this particular point.
Still, I agree with Watkins on one matter: it does seem a great pity that Ian Har- greaves never found the time to discuss the finer — and the coarser — points of rugby lore with Watkins over eight or nine pints
during the hectic 17-month period that he was editor of the Independent. It would surely have been a marvellous way to relax from the stresses and strains of that mur- derously thankless task.
Michael Glover
18 Rectory Grove, Clapham, London SW4
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