6 SEPTEMBER 1963, Page 7

Imperfeetioniem 1 sympathise with Private Eye, too, in other ways.

As Mr. Tom Iremonger so rightly pointed out in the Commons not long ago, fair com- ment is becoming grossly restricted. What seems to be the Private Eye view—that since you can be sued for vast damages on account of some negligible and unintended slight. you might as well go the whole hog and say what you really think—should be understandable even by those who don't agree with it. Anyway, I wish them luck—and success in ridding themselves of their own tinge of cant. But why be so patronising? What other magazine is as good as it ought to be?