STAINS ON THE CARPET SIR,—The Iranian Embassy and I could
go on shout- ing liar' at each other till kingdom come without Proving anything except that the Embassy sees it as its job to represent Iran as a kind of paradise of Plenty.
But they do it so clumsily. Mr. Vassighy says I was prejudiced by the manner of my dismissal from the country : I wrote the article several weeks before I left. He says I was wrong about the elections: what I wrote was accurate when I wrote it. And I don't Want to haggle with him over my maid's wages (it Was had enough with her), but even here he tries a silly trick with the exchange rates. He says that average domestic wages are 'between 3,000 and 3,500 rials a month (L15 to f20).' At the rate of 230 flats to the pound (and just try buying sterling for that) the sterling equivalent comes to something Considerably lower.—Yours faithfully,
Previous page
