Henry Mance’s article (“The Lunch Bunch”, Life & Arts, September 14) analysing 30 years of “Lunch with the FT” missed one important aspect of these articles — the light shed on the character of the interviewers.
More subtle and indirect than revelations about the interviewees, this is a major reason why these lunch reports are so enjoyable.
Some interviewers give themselves a central role, making their own opinions clear. Some allude to their own histories, while others are more reticent. Some are clearly greedier than others going for all three courses despite the more puritanical tastes of the interviewees. And some have a great eye for detail, with graphic descriptions of the setting, the food, the clothes worn by those interviewed and the behaviour and attitudes of the waiters and waitresses, while others concentrate more single-mindedly on the conversation.
The interviewers are generally familiar to us regular readers of the FT. But these additional perspectives can throw a welcome new light on their regular columns.
Frances Stewart
Emeritus Professor of Development Economics, University of Oxford
London NW3
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