Letter: Ladies at the Garrick

Sir: Mo Mowlam's defiant publicity stunt of eating at the Garrick Club in order to give comfort to its proprietors will not only have offended women ("New Labour ladies lunch at a bastion of male chauvinism", 17 December). Many men are equally repelled by such survivals of Old Misogyny. Of course there is a libertarian issue here - the dismal old buffers must be allowed to pursue their fetishes in private - but there is no need for the rest of us, male or female, to feel compelled to endorse it. Will the next "New Labour" visit be to a whites-only drinking club?

NICHOLAS MURRAY

London WC1