20 OCTOBER 2001, Page 40

If my book isn't being published in Britain (and as

of this writing it is not), it is because of the sorry British habit of threatening libel writs — a penchant Harry Evans has acquired, as The Spectator must know. Nonetheless, there was a time when he deplored such tactics. In his palmier and more endearing days, he was the first to acknowledge that 'England has a half-free press'. Those were the days when he was indeed Britain's best newspaper editor, but as I also wrote — and Mr Glover failed to mention — there wasn't then, and still isn't, much competition for the title. Alas.

Judy Bachrach

Washington DC, USA