Letter: My father's BBC sacking was pragmatic not moral

JOHN BIRT'S former salary arrangements with the BBC are little different in principle from Sir Peter Hall's when he became director of the National Theatre. He was also paid on a freelance basis. When I mentioned this in my book, The History of the National Theatre (1978), few papers considered it worthy of serious comment but blamed me instead for meddling in a man's private affairs.

The country must be going through some moral revival, but surely we should be careful that it does not get so out of hand that it will deter similar entrepreneurs of the future from making themselves available to run our cultural industries.

London EC2