I was no sneak
Sir: Your columnist Martin Vander Weyer alleges that, in a demonstration at Oxford in 1973, I was `.. . running about taking pictures of (him and his friends), presumably to pass on to the authorities' (Any other business, 3 November). This is totally untrue — I took no photographs of any demonstration and certainly never reported any students to the authorities for demonstrating or anything else.
In fact, on that day, a small group of Conservatives were indeed active. By arranging a fire hose through an upper window of New College, we were able to soak a large proportion of the demonstrators, greatly reducing their number by the time they reached their destination. This action took the shine off the reports of the demo on News at 10. The subsequent sense-of-humour failure among many students left me disappointed that the leftist ideas of acceptable direct action were so limited in scope, but then, as Cpl Jones would say, 'They don't like it ... '
Julian Brazier London SW1
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