Letter: First Lady 'hatchet job'

From Baroness Blackstone and

Ms Elizabeth Symons

Sir: We wonder whether Polly Toynbee ("What have they done to Hillary?", 30 November) was at the same meeting we attended at the American Embassy on Wednesday.

Her report was a serious misrepresentation of an interesting and stimulating discussion. What Ms Toynbee describes as "buzz words" are real issues to many women, as those on zero-hours contracts and pitiful pay for part- timers know all too well. A wide variety of views was expressed, put with both determination and humour. It was a conversation in which Mrs Clinton freely participated, demonstrating a reflective intelligence and considerable knowledge of the issues.

Had Polly Toynbee listened to the conversation, instead of trying to dictate it through her own agenda of questions to Mrs Clinton, she might have had a clearer understanding of what was going on.

Journalists who attend meetings of this kind, and then do a hatchet job on their host, are the cause of the "anodyne views" and "carefully manicured" words that Polly Toynbee deplores.

Yours faithfully,

Tessa Blackstone

Master, Birkbeck College

Elizabeth Symons

General Secretary

The Association of First

Division Civil Servants

London, SW1