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Q. I am about to order some headed airmail paper and I am unclear as to whether it should say United Kingdom, Great Britain or England. Please will you be so kind as to advise.
G.C., London SW1
A. England has always been correct form in the past and well within many readers’ own lifetimes ‘North Britain’ was appended to letters to Scotland. The expression ‘UK’ is jarring to sensitive ears and Great Britain is plainly absurd, so why not endorse your decision by looking to the French, who always use Angleterre when addressing envelopes?
Q. I have been a member of the London Library for about 25 years, but now that the membership fee is going up to £375 I really feel in two minds about renewing my subscription. I hardly ever go to London these days because I always seem to break some traffic rule when I do so, but I have very fond memories of the Library and would hate to feel I was perpetually excluded from it if new-money members swarm in to take my place. What guidance can you offer, Mary?
Name withheld, Burford
A. The fees seem very high, but when you consider that they permit online access, through your home computer, to all manner of valuable data banks such as JSTOR and the DNB, the £7 per week seems something of a bargain. The social opportunities of the staircase are second to none and the atmosphere of the reading room conducive to productivity. If you see the increase as an incentive for you to make use of your membership rather than treating the Library as a gym and never going, then you can turn it to your advantage.
If you have a problem write to Dear Mary, c/o The Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London SW1H 9HP.
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