For Paul Barker, not only were the established authors listed in his obituary (20 August) to be included in the celebrated New Society; he also sought out and encouraged authors at an early, more hesitant career stage. He was a brilliant networker across varied disciplines. He attended a multiplicity of official and informal events, seemingly on the lookout for potential topics, and ones often considered marginal or too controversial by the establishment. He asked me to produce an article on pollution beliefs among the ever-persecuted Gypsies. Wonderfully, a Gypsy representative wrote to New Society expressing appreciation.
Having learned that I had in press an auto/ethnographic chapter on girls’ boarding schools, Paul read the copy, then ingeniously extracted a single theme for a New Society appearance. He suggested I concentrate on the girl’s body and its treatment. That 1978 article caused something of a sensation. Cited in a BBC programme, I received requests from several publishers for an entire book. Paul Barker’s networking across the media also produced a magnificent rare collection of photographs, to which authors were given access. His open-ended approach also attracted job advertisements not found elsewhere, which transformed different lives.
Professor Judith Okely
Oxford
• Reading the obituary of Paul Barker, former editor of New Society, reminded me of the retirement speech of Sir Philip Rogers, a former permanent secretary at the DHSS. One of the things he said he’d miss least was that he would no longer have to read New Society. This was not meant entirely as a criticism. He said the breadth of coverage both in the range of subjects and in the views expressed about them helped to confirm for him that life was more complicated than he would like to admit.
Alan Healey
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
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