6 MARCH 2004, Page 26

From Tom MacFarlane Sir: It was good to read Correlli Barnett's typically incisive arguments against this country's embroilment in Iraq.

I have long been of the view that his quartet of books — the 'Pride and Fall' sequence — should be required study in secondary schools, so that pupils emerging as voters at the age of 18 will better understand the dynamics by which a once great nation decayed from within. This would help pupils to judge the policies of the day against a matrix of ideas which would enable them better to challenge the contempt displayed by the political class towards the electorate.

It would be a fitting recognition for the lifetime's work of this unique scholar.

Torn MacFarlane

Thornton Cleveleys, Lancashire