Iain Hollingshead - I Rest My Case: Unpublished Letters to the Daily Telegraph

SIR I hope your letter-page addicts have enjoyed as much as I have browsing through I Could Go On, should they have found one in their stocking. It is a feast of humour and I am flattered to have found two personal entries. Is it too much to hope that Iain will complete a trilogy?

David Hartridge

Groby, Leicestershire

SIR I know why I so enjoy Letters to the Editor. The world is falling down around our ears and yet today, apart from the serious bit at the top (and even that mentions Beatrix Potter), the rest of the letters are a pleasure to read.

Only your readers could find time amidst the turmoil to discuss: recipes for Bloody Marys, when to have your wedding reception so as not to miss an episode of The Archers and what not to buy your mother on Mothering Sunday.

On a personal note, the other reason I am such an avid fan of this column is that, among my friends, I am the only one to have had a photograph printed, in a swimsuit and on a Saturday.

Rosemary Almond

Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire

SIR In the past Britons travelled in perilous and near-impossible conditions to carve out an Empire; now they are reduced to using the letters pages of The Daily Telegraph to swap ideas on the best way to carry keys. As with everything else, I blame New Labour.

Keith Haines

Belfast

Last Christmas, when we published I Could Go On , we hoped our readers would pick up the hint in the title. True to form, the letters have continued to pour in, tackling everything from defence cuts to looters, from Rupert Murdoch to the tell-tell signs that your wife is turning into your mother-in-law.

What has been a bad year for some parts of the media has been an especially good one for our wonderful letter-writers. Even in this digital age our postbag continues to groan under the weight of correspondence. Our email inbox is crammed to overflowing. Our fax machine, perhaps the busiest in London (perhaps the only one in London), whirrs away contentedly. Weve never felt the need to hack into our readers phones to find out what theyre thinking.

All these surplus thoughts, however whimsical, hilariously off-message or downright rude, have made the task of collating a third volume of unpublished letters more enjoyable than ever. Who would have thought a year ago that letter writers would be able to draw parallels between Silvio Berlusconi and the Duke of York, Andrew Marr and Ryan Giggs, or even the Archbishop of Canterbury and Rebekah Brooks (youll have to turn to Chapter Five for that one)?

This has been the year of riots, Nick Cleggs tears, bunga bunga, superinjunctions and the Blairs bedroom revelations (again). England turned out to be surprisingly good at cricket and unsurprisingly bad at football world cup bids. The eurozone threatened to collapse altogether, as did half the Middle East. We waved goodbye to bin Laden, and an enthusiastic hello to Pippa Middletons bottom.

Big events often bring out the best in our letterwriters. So, too, does the quotidian, whether a routine visit to the shops, catching a train or simply turning on the television. Perhaps I Rest My Case feels like more of a review of the year than our first two collections, but it also provides a further glimpse into the preoccupations of the mythical everyman, his frustrations and peccadilloes, hobbyhorses and fears. One of the most satisfying parts of editing such a compilation is when one letter, sent with faint hope of recognition into the void, finds an echo, however muffled, in another, and a form of conversation ensues between two or more complete strangers.

At the risk of sounding as unhinged as M, our regular correspondent from Bristol, who believes himself to be the head of MI6, I feel, after a couple of fond years in our letter-writers irrepressible company, that I know them rather well. To all our correspondents, published, unpublished and now unpublished published, my grateful thanks as well as to Christopher Howse, the letters editor; Matt Pritchett; Caroline Buckland; Richard Preston and everyone at Aurum. A particular thank you must also go to Sally Peck, the acting deputy letters editor, who did a huge amount of invaluable work sifting through the letters as they came in and applying her expert eye to separate the wheat from the chaff.

For now we rest our case, but am I alone in hoping well see you all again next year?

Iain Hollingshead

The Daily Telegraph

August 2011

SIR This morning at breakfast, my mother opined that the real reason the Blairs havent been invited to the Royal Wedding is that Cherie Blair might forget where she is and start trying to have another baby.

Thus, she is saved from herself. (And so are we.)

Felicity J. Foulis Brown

Bramley, Hampshire

SIR Perhaps like mine, Tony Blairs invitation got lost in the post.

Piers Casimir-Mrowczynski

Gustard Wood, Hertfordshire

SIR Could any reader put their hand on their heart and say that they would invite to their grandsons wedding the people who stole their yacht?

James Cox

Lower Hardres, Kent

SIR Its an absolute disgrace that the Blairs did not receive invitations; we have been deprived of our right to bid for them on eBay.

D.D.J.B.

Wellesbourne, Warwickshire

SIR There were four photographs of Kate Middleton in the paper on Saturday. One thing puzzles me: how does she keep the hat on at that angle? I have used a magnifying glass and I am still puzzled.

Eddie Peart

Rotherham, South Yorkshire

SIR Might we look forward to seeing a blank rectangular space in The Daily Telegraph with the caption underneath: Kate Middleton didnt go anywhere today?

Bill Wade

Sheffield

SIR Now that Kate Middleton has a coat of arms, can we xpect that from April 29 the Middleton family will be known as the Uppertons?

Huw Beynon

Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire

SIR Surely the Middleton coat of arms should have a cupcake and a party popper in it somewhere?

Mrs M.C. Kellett

Benenden, Kent

SIR Do we have to be bored on an almost daily basis regarding this co-habiting, unemployed woman?

Primrose Peacock

Truro, Cornwall

SIR Would it be possible to relax the law in Britain to allow Prince William to have five wives or more? Then we could have a Royal Wedding every year.

Gillian Lee

Norbury, Cheshire

SIR Yawn, yawn, yawn. Promise me it will stop after the wedding.

Steve Cattell

Hougham, Lincolnshire

SIR Given the day off school on May 6 1960, for the wedding of Antony Armstrong-Jones to Princess Margaret, I played cricket on the local recreation ground. I proudly scored my first and, so far, only century. There was one bowler, one fielder and one tennis ball.

I have already oiled my bat for April 29 this year.

Colin Henderson

Cranleigh, Surrey

SIR According to your article, the Duchess of York is making a documentary entitled Finding Sarah. I wasnt aware that anyone was really bothering to search.

S.K.

Havant, Hampshire

SIR For all her good charitable works why does Sarah, Duchess of York, at the age of 51, still feel the need to frequent nightclubs?

Doreen Edwards

Birchington, Kent

SIR Its such a shame that the Duke and Duchess of York are divorced. They really are made for each other.

Peter Leatherbarrow

Wortwell, Norfolk

SIR Would a more suitable role for the Duke of York be Trade Envoy to Italy? He and the Italian Prime Minister seem to have similar interests, and possibly, much in common.