Toff-baiting
Sir: Charles Moore's reasoned defence of his class (Another voice, 20 February) con- tains several fatal flaws. Chief among them, of course, is his assertion that his hated edi- torial rival, Andrew Neil, would do well to send any future son (no daughters, God forbid) to Eton, where he would 'learn more' than at the local comp.
At the local comp, I had the best of both worlds, and I rather think that Andrew Neil would agree. Like me, his son could learn The Aeneid if he wanted to — it's the same wherever you're taught it — and talk to girls on a daily basis before he was 18. Then he could get into one of the Toffbridge col- leges (because it is apparently much easier for comp-kids these days), where he could lecture public schoolboys about real life in the inner city. They love hearing about it, having only seen the streets through big car windows during school holidays. You can have a lot of fun irritating toffs like Mr Moore and then dining out in the same restaurants as them, practically at their expense. Mr Neil, I presume, knows this only too well.
Matthew Wells
465 Kings Road, London SW10
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