Sir, - As an English teacher, I frequently offer the hackneyed but still useful advice: "Write about what you know." Recent articles in your paper, by Kevin Myers on the late David Foster and by Tom Humphries on the retirement of Paul McGrath, are models of their kind. Each had the clarity and sincerity, the lack of any straining for effect, that shows how well the writer knew his subject and how deeply he felt about it. Each was genuinely moving and true. It is a lucky editor who has such talents at his disposal.
Of course, such abilities carry dangers. The talented writer who knows little of his subject is likely to produce something superficial, glib and cheap, the gaps in his knowledge plugged with overblown prose and smart-alecry. Witness Mr Myers on Ryanair and Mr Humphries on rugby football. Right sledgehammers; wrong nuts. - Yours, etc.,
Andrew J. W. Deacon
Parson St., Maynooth, Co. Kildare.