I've been reading your paper over the recent third of its lifetime and, you may recall, I've had occasion to find fault with it. Particular points that I continue to find irritating are the irresponsible inaccuracy with which you sometimes describe cultural venues (e.g. telling your readers that the Danubiana Museum is a "short walk" from the nearest bus stop), and more fundamentally, your propensity to give greater coverage to Old Town pubs than to the profounder matters of Slovak life. And, for all the charm of your commentaries on Slovak language and culture, there was a whiff of cant in your edition of March 4; on page 9 you admit to having carried an advertisement of dubious integrity, yet in your editorial on page 4 ["The things that matter", by Tom Nicholson, March 4 - 10, Vol.8, No.8] you vigorously refute any suggestion that you "retract your claws on stories affecting major advertisers".
But the rest of your editorial puts these objections in perspective. Your final paragraph went straight home with this ex-pat, as it surely did with your other readers. With many regrets, I shall be away from Slovakia over the next year, but I look forward to finding the Spectator even better and more mature on my return!
Dúbravka, Bratislava
