Myerson & Son

Is the fuss over Julie Myerson to do with the fact that she kicked out her son for smoking skunk or because she wrote about it?

The answer surely must be the second, since no parent could put up indefinitely with a child who did the things Master Myerson is said to have done. This is nothing to do, incidentally, with the dislike on Sir Compton's part of drug-taking: the issue was not so much the drug taking itself as the behaviour that sprang from it. In any case, changing the locks would have been dislocating for all parties - a truly terrible time to have to live through.

On the second point, Sir Compton feels that the author is in need of defence from her critics. It may be viewed as repugnant to write about a family crisis in this way, but isn't it the case that Myerson is actually exploring the torment of the process? Putting all that on view is courageous, not least because it would seem to do nothing to narrow the gulf between mother and son. And to be estranged from a parent or a child is an awful thing.