Letter: A false picture of family values

Sir: Whatever is the date of the picture accompanying the Archbishop of Westminster's article (8 March) on the family? Is it deliberately old-fashioned: the mother in a patterned dress looking like the heroine of Brief Encounter, slightly faded; the father Brylcreemed, in jacket, white collar and tie; the little girls with slides and bows, in frilly dresses and white shoes and socks?

We had an amusing half-hour trying to put a date to the ducks on the lady's dress, and the possibly American-style popular edition of Alice in Wonderland. The Fifties?

But seriously, these people, with the chintzy settee and matching curtains and the father's obviously professional occupation, are, or were, from the prosperous classes; but also, I suspect, from a time when most ordinary people had moderate security, the chance of a job, a bought or rented house and enough for their children to eat and be equipped for school. Unlike today.

Yours sincerely,

BRENDA FARR

Warwick

8 March