Mark Steyn- Man of Letters. Openness and accountabliity: these are some of the most popular words among politicians in Britain, I would guess. That's probably why we have so little of it, and why I find US politics refreshing. Something you have to talk about rather than practise is bound to be scarce in reality. The same is true of journalism too. For all the talk of people writing what the audience wants to hear, and being chained to populism for commercial reasons, in reality few writers are prepared to face their readership. That's one reason I am a fan of Mark Steyn.


I love the way he includes so many reader's letters, including offensive ones (the ones he particularly likes!) on his website. I love the way he so often bases his writing on the feedback he receives. Letters are wonderful records of a person's views at a particular time, and a great yardstick by which to measure rightness or wrongness. I'm sure I've written some stupid things in letters (or emails, I won't distinguish), but I'm very glad I didn't write this:

"Your column seemed so out of date with developments over the weekend, so seemingly out of touch with the current situation, so, as you would say, so September 10th. You see Mark, as you well know, the story of the day was not precision weapons but the growing bluster and embarrassment of the U.S. administration.”

So wrote Mr John Black as the invasion of Iraq was underway this time last year. It would be ok without the sarcastic attempt to parody Steyn- 'as you would say, so September 10th'- and the patronising tone of 'you see Mark'.


I can only compare Mark's policy of publishing letters in full, including typos, with the BBC's policy of publishing excerpts from a 'select' bunch of respondents in their Don't 'Have Your Say' section. The banality of the Don't 'Have Your Say' comments contrasts strikingly with Steyn's thoughtful contributors and critics.