LETTER: Chablis socialists who are forced to choose between head and heart

From Mr Paddy Heazell

Sir: Your correspondent Andrea Coleman (letter, 23 January) reacts too sharply. Harriet Harman is far from being the first socialist parent to have faced having to choose between being ruled by head or heart.

As head of The Hall, an independent (fee-paying) school in the unfashionable end of Hampstead, in London, I regularly educated the sons and grandson of Labour (and Liberal) politicians. They all, presumably, took the view that whatever the political and philosophical arguments, their sons were too precious to be sacrificed on any altars of correctness.

Branded on one occasion as the "Chablis socialists", their ranks included such past great luminaries of the Labour Party as Professors Laski and GDH Cole. Mrs Coleman really has no cause to feel so betrayed.

Surely, responsible parents must aim to provide the very best for their children, as they see it and as circumstances dictate. A better educated nation may happen, one day, but even if Joseph Dromey really could be instrumental in creating it, should his parents be required to risk waiting that long?

Yours faithfully,

Paddy Heazell

Saxmundham, Suffolk

23 January