1 MARCH 1968, Page 27

My country, 'tis of thee

Sir: I have read carefully the whole of Toynbee's Study of History, but I cannot recollect any in- stance of a civilisation which talked itself into decline.

No doubt we are declining. No doubt we are pretty feeble and despicable compared, say, to Kenyans or Russians or Belgians or Andorrans, but I, for one, am fed up with having it rammed don my throat every Friday and every other day.

Chuck it, Burgess. Try a different line for a change, such as hovercraft or atomic energy or champion footballers or Beatles, anything; but for heaven's sake praise something even if it is only faint.

Geo. E. Assinder Windywalls, Little Hallingbury, nr. Bishop's Stortford, Herts