30 OCTOBER 1982, Page 20

Sir: To find umpteen columns of The Spectator blank and

gone Would be even trister than ces tristes pluies d'automne.

But I'd rather they were filled with nothing at all Than the tedious grouchings of Mr Gore Vidal.

And some of us might say, `Who is he, anyway?'

F. J. A. Cruso

The Old Vicarage, Bury, Pulborough, West Sussex