Letter: Clothed in the garb of justice

Sir: Am I alone in finding your front-page article ('Cabby courts an air of authority and proves power of wig and gown', 20 August) faintly patronising? Dressing Mr A. W. Bird in the apparel of a barrister to determine the impressive effect of those clothes was less an illustration of the current debate on legal costume than a demonstration of the attitude pertinently criticised by your leading article (20 August). Barristers will have no difficulty in arousing an illusion of superiority as long as your writers imply 'look what happens if we dress a cabby, of all people, up in the clothes of his betters'.

I write as one well aware of the tempting dangers of professional uniforms. My wife is a barrister, and I am,

Yours faithfully,

JUSTIN LEWIS-ANTHONY

Parish of Cirencester with

Watermoor

Gloucestershire