LETTERS: Newt avenger

AS SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich is, after the President and Vice-President of the United States, the most important policy-maker elected in the country. Whatever one thinks of his political views, he has achieved in less than a year a major programme of structural reforms in the House.

To compare him, as does the Independent on Sunday, with "the ultimate hitman" and "the coldest of killers by contract"(Flat Earth, 24 December) is, at best, in poor taste.

At worst, it is an extreme expression of "political correctness" and biased journalism which contradicts the independent tradition of your journal.

Professor Gabriel G Nahas

NYU Medical Center

New York, USA