Sir, – Lucy Kellaway is right that "faceism" in recruitment deprives firms of valuable employees ("Let's face it, looks do count when it comes to hiring", July 29th).
In 1984, George Orwell wrote: "A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself – anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: Facecrime, it was called."
I am glad that she sees no sign of selection by physiognomy among her journalist colleagues. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
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Leitir Ceanainn,
Co Dhún na nGall.