Middle-class punch
Sir: It is very sad that Auberon Waugh should again leave his column in The Spec- tator (Another voice, 10 February), what- ever the reason.
However, in writing about the decline of Punch he misses an important point. For more than 100 years, Punch served its read- ers by reflecting their own pursuits: hunting, Shooting, fishing, the social round and the like. Until the Fifties, Punch's writers and artists, on the whole, were knowledgeable about and sympathetic to these activities. With the editorship of Muggeridge and his successors, Punch moved away from 'traditional English' subjects, becoming more cosmopolitan and less familiar to its core readership. It says much for Punch's illustrious past and the inertia of its habit- ridden subscribers that the magazine did not expire much sooner.
Any new Punch, if the name means any- thing, will ignore those 'middle-class' pur- suits at its peril.
Tim Jaques
10 Chamberlain Street, Regent's Park Road, London NW1
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