7 JULY 1979, Page 16

Witty Taki

Sir: The Mr Sharpies who wrote in to complain about Taki seems ignorant of the role of satire in a magazine like the Spectator. My dictionary defines it as: 1. a literary work holding up human vices, follies and stupidities to ridicule or scorn. 2. trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly.' Taki has the guts to stick his neck out week after week, and the wit to write often hilarious pieces.

Nicholas Osborn

47 Meriden Court, London SW3