The editor, though, has access to the paper's postbag, and presumably is confident he's in tune with the thinking of many of his readers.

BBC: Mugshots and making headlines

He must have had a huge postbag but on each occasion I received a helpful and encouraging reply, typed on his famous old typewriter.

BBC: Sir Patrick Moore: Your memories

Their postbag, they claim, is bulging with applications from high-calibre people who want to be on the board of the regional agency when it starts work in 1999.

ECONOMIST: Regional development: Whitehall rules | The