Letter: Blair `climbdown'?

Sir: When a government acts in a heavy-handed and dictatorial manner it is rightly criticised. Why then, when a government acts in an adult manner by compromising on, say, House of Lords reform, does the media brand it as a U-turn or an "embarrassing climbdown" ("Hague sacks Cranborne in row over Lords", 3 December)? If we want grown-up politics in this country the media has to help by reporting in a grown-up way.

CHRIS CLARK

Oxford