From Mr S. W. F. Holloway
SIR,-In March, 1989, a Mr P. J. Curphey, then a locum pharmacist on the Isle of Man, had three letters published in the correspondence columns of The Pharmaceutical Journal. In the first (PJ, March 11, 1989, p270), under the heading "Candidate", he announced his decision to stand in the forthcoming Council election, by affirming his belief "that the majority of Members of Council do not understand, never mind represent the vast majority of pharmacists". In the second (PJ, March 18, 1989, p299), he described the Council’s position on the supervision issue as a "mixture of poor judgment and bad timing" and urged it to withdraw its proposals before the special general meeting. In his third letter (PJ, March 25, 1989, p328), he lamented the fact that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society had failed to get its message about the National Health Service contract and the pharmacist’s professional role across to the Government. In 1989, Mr Curphey used the correspondence columns of the PJ to further his election campaign by attacking Council members and Council policy. Would his letters have been published if the Secretary and Registrar had been in control of The Journal’s contents? Would a parish magazine print such "offensive" and "ill-informed" material?
Sydney Holloway
Leicester