30 DECEMBER 1995, Page 22

Australian omission

Sir: A worry about being Australian is that many of us were British a few generations back. Does this mean we might turn into a nation of football hooligans and serial killers?

Similar assumptions are aired every time Australia is mentioned in the British press, including your eagerly-awaited journal. But it was not stated that the author of Stoker, reviewed earlier this year and praised by Tom Hiney (Christmas Books I, 18 Novem- ber) is an Australian, Donald Watt.

Marjorie de Saint-Ferjeux

66 Hawthorn Road, North Caulfield, Melbourne, Australia