Colourful Mo
Sir: I am surprised to read Charles Moore (The Spectator’s Notes, 24 July) opine that ‘in a better world’ there would have been no film about Mo Mowlam but instead one depicting the ‘heroic struggles’ of Owen Paterson.
Mo Mowlam was vibrant, colourful and exuberant — an authentic character who was in every sense entertaining. Her story captivated millions; her unorthodoxy was appealing and her eccentricities made for compulsive viewing. She spoke her mind, even when that mind’s capacity was in moving decline. A film about Owen Paterson, by contrast, would not only be irredeemably dull; it would be viewed in just two households — those of Paterson and (if he has paid his TV licence) Moore. And Pierce Brosnan would certainly have turned the part down.
Parliament needs more colourful, free-thinking, vivacious individuals such as Mo Mowlam. Sadly, all the parties seem to want at the moment are drab, grey, on-message, compliant clones.
Adrian Hilton
Buckinghamshire
Lunch with Ms Collins
Sir: Joan, Joan, Joan. Your diary (24 July), surrounding the regular box advertisement for Wiltons, extolled, not once but twice, the virtues of the Wolseley, and the ‘theatrical atmosphere’ of Club 55. In an edition when Wiltons sponsored the Cartoons Special as well, you could have been a bit more thoughtful.
May I invite you for lunch at Wiltons? There may not be Lucian Freud or Brigitte Bardot at the next table, but the fare will speak for itself.
Jamie Hambro
Chairman, Wiltons, London SW1
Smart Alex
Sir: During his tenure as City editor of the Sunday Telegraph, where I also laboured, I came to respect and like Alex Murray a lot. So I was appalled at his abuse by Special Branch airport security personnel (‘My Gatwick hell’, 17 July). But looking back 30 years or so to our time together, I confess that even then Alex had a penchant for puckish humour of a free-spirited nature that was bound to get him into trouble. I am not alone in having indelibly stamped on my memory Alex’s impersonation of Elvis Presley at a City of London charity show. With hips swivelling and guitar pounding, Alex brought the house down with his repertoire which ranged from ‘Jail House Rock’ to ‘Love Me Tender’.
The Special Branch should be taken to task and Murray should be offered a sub-cabinet post at Treasury by the Cameron-Clegg regime in recompense.
James Srodes
Washington, DC
Sir: After reading Alex Murray’s disturbing article about being detained at Gatwick I strongly advise him (and his wife) to stay away from the United States for the foreseeable future. Waiting at Houston International airport last Wednesday, I heard a woman on the public address system say, after the usual stuff about not leaving bags unattended and so forth, ‘Please remember that inappropriate remarks and jokes about security may result in prosecution and imprisonment.’
The US Constitution, to the makers’ eternal credit, guarantees free speech, but apparently not for air travellers.
Craig Pickering
London W4
Plane wrong
Sir: There were two slip-ups on page 15 of the 17 July issue (‘The 89-year-old Boy’), I am afraid. First, the photograph might well be that of Geoffrey Wellum, but not in 1940. Spitfires with four-bladed propellers were not in service then. The one shown is probably a Mark IX, which did not enter service until 1942.
Secondly, your advertisement for the debate about the future of the armed services shows two men in uniform saluting while standing ‘at ease’. My old drill sergeant in 1940, when my own Spitfire career began, would have had apoplexy at such a sight!
T.N. Rosser
Henley-on-Thames
Butterfly’s defence
Sir: I read with interest Harriet Sergeant’s reflections on Japanese culture in her review of my novel, Butterfly’s Shadow (Books, 17 July). I’m glad she liked the US Depression chapters and in particular, Pinkerton’s American wife. I myself became aware while writing the book that a bit-part player in Puccini’s opera had firmly established herself centre-stage in the novel.
But when your reviewer describes Madame Butterfly as a male fantasy figure — ‘docile’ — I have to leap to her defence. In the opera she’s docile, of course: she’s a 15-year-old girl sold into prostitution, voiceless and powerless. But my book imagines her life after Pinkerton sails away, and to me, seen through a woman’s eyes, she’s no male fantasy. A fiercely independent single mother, she rejects affluent suitors and transforms herself, teaching English to fallen women as well as Methodist girls; she opens a successful restaurant for foreigners and challenges state power when she demonstrates for women’s rights.
In one respect she doesn’t change: like Dido or Ariadne, she loves the man who has abandoned her. But docile? No.
Lee Langley
Richmond upon Thames
Royal rollicking
Sir: I worked closely with the Prince of Wales over more than a quarter of a century within the Royal Jubilee and the Prince’s Trust. Regardless of James Delingpole’s opinions (You know it makes sense, 24 July), the Prince does not deserve to be vilified in this manner. The wording is intemperate and cowardly and shames The Spectator.
Lord Remnant
Henley-on-Thames
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