LETTER: 'Great communicator' fights for sanity and has the Royal Household on toast

From Miss Jo Dunn

Sir: Apropos current discussions on the rights and wrongs of intruding into the private and public lives of British citizens, it is worth reflecting on the opinion of that great Englishman William Cobbett (1763-1835), who said:

No man has a right to pry into his neighbour's private concerns ... but ... when he once comes forward as a candidate for public admiration, esteem, or compassion, his opinions, his principles, his motives, every action of his life, public or private, become the fair subject of public discussion.

Yours faithfully,

Jo Dunn

Charlbury, Oxfordshire

20 November