Letter: Absent editor

Sir: Not for the first time, your diarist publishes fiction about me dressed up as fact. You report that I castigated the staff of the Sunday Times for being 'out-scooped' by the Observer at my regular Tuesday morning editorial conference this week. Apparently my blast reached 'the darkest corners of Wapping'.

Clearly, this was a story too good to check - or perhaps your financial problems force you into the cheaper route of simply making things up. I have been on holiday in the United States since last Sunday.

Yours faithfully,

ANDREW NEIL

Editor

The Sunday Times

Aspen, Colorado