LETTER: Astute Emma

"POOR old Emma Thompson," says Ian Parker ("Beyond the Cringe", Review, 3 September) as an appropriate label for that successful and versatile actress because she says "Oh crumbs!" on public occasions that call for an air of dignified and sincere modesty, wears pale linen, has good intentions, supports good causes, won an Oscar for her part in a film which has helped put English cinema back on the international map, finds complexity more interesting than simplicity and is loyally to her friends Hugh Grant and Stephen Fry.

In the rest of the piece I gathered the clear impression that this astute woman knows how to keep her brains, personality and family life well hidden from people who are not embarrassed to be heard screaming with envy.

Virginia Browne-Wilkinson

Florence, Italy