Thanks for sharing that, David.

Larkin's centenary is next year, so I expect much heated discussion of his public honors, and a quick search shows that the Hull Council recently expressed concern about whether they should prepare to deal with statue-removal campaigns due to Larkin's problematic opinions, and should perhaps even consider doing something preemptive.

Personally, I would be surprised if statues and other honors were actually to be removed over nothing more than Larkin's personal correspondence, each piece of which apparently had an intended audience of one. Serious campaigns to remove public honors generally only gain steam in response to honorees' actions that had a demonstrable adverse effect on others, including the public expression of opinions.

That said, the capacity of public officials to trim their sails depending on which way they think the political wind is blowing should never be underestimated.

Dick and I were fellow pupils at Hull Grammar School, along with Andrew Marvell, although we were none of us contemporaries.

People should try to be understanding. His parents fucked him up. They didn't mean to, but they did.

I agree. It's not his fault. He went to Oxford and was an educated, talented poet! How could he possibly know better after all the damage his parents, not to mention the devil, did to his brain?