Doris Lessing, the novelist, said: It’s so shocking I can’t find words for it.”Penelope Fitzgerald, novelist: “I’m appalled to think that someone can buy a publishing firm like a soap factory and then scrap the part they don’t want.”Peter Hennessey, historian: “HarperCollins has ceased to be part of the open society.” Also disgusted are Patrick O’Brian, the historical novelist; Lord Bulloch, the historian; the psychologist Prof Anthony Storr; and literary critic Sir Frank Kermode.THIS is no storm in a tea cup. Having bought it, Mr Murdoch sold half to Collins, linking the companies. This increased his thirst for control of Collins, and in 1988 he disregarded his pledge. A hostile bid was mounted for full ownership of the company.Again, many of Collins’s authors expressed their opposition, but the Collins board recommended Mr Murdoch’s bid to shareholders after he had persuaded them of his good intentions. When the failure of his takeover became clear, Mr Murdoch assured Ian Chapman, the deputy chairman, he did not plan to make a hostile bid and would not seek to dictate policy to the publishing house.Initially he kept his word, but in 1987 the New York publisher Harper and Row came up for sale. By yesterday, the firm’s treatment of Mr Proffitt had aroused outrage.

The truth is that Stuart Proffitt, Patten’s editor, told colleagues that the first two-thirds of the book was “the most lucid, best written and compelling book I have read by a politician since I came into publishing”.
By the time the article appeared, Mr Proffitt’s opinion was of no interest to HarperCollins. He had been suspended on 9 February, sent home, and told not to engage in any further business. The fact was that Rupert Murdoch, the mogul to whose empire HarperCollins belongs, had instructed Anthea Disney in New York and Eddie Bell in London that the book was not to be published because Mr Patten’s views on China offended the chief. Only yesterday did the Times refer to the story: “News Corp puts its side in row over Patten’s book” read the headline on page five above a story which repeated a statement made by Mr Murdoch on Friday.That statement concluded: “As is well known, the editors of News Corporation publications are free to express their opinions.” This was not a view shared by lustrous names on HarperCollins’s list.

It revealed the book was to be dumped by Patten’s publishers, and added: “With matchsticks propping up their drooping eyelids, editors at top publishers HarperCollins realised the flat turgid tome was beyond salvation.”

That was a lie, and today’s Mail on Sunday carries an apology to Mr Patten. The colours of their paint range – duck egg blue, buttermilk, citrus yellow and deep sea green – are delicate and fresh. “Everyone and their aunt has launched a paint range,” says Ronald “Most are emulsion. Ours are an acrylic distemper deliberately designed to age on our furniture People ask us if colours will date. If you take your cue from the natural world, then I don’t think they do”.For the Maison catalogue, telephone 0181 892 2151. LAST week the Mail on Sunday carried a bitchy item about Chris Patten’s memoir of his Governorship of Hong Kong. It’s that Jackie Kennedy in Martha’s Vineyard level of sophistication.

Even Pawson couldn’t fault the simplicity of a vanilla pot board dresser (pounds 650) displaying cream crockery tone-on-tone.For the tenth anniversary collection, Ronald and Roberts have chosen the Long Island country style and colour palette. But the delicacy of the natural pastel paintwork visibly lightens what is essentially a heavy piece of furniture. It is undeniably the paint techniques and the eye for colour Ronald and Roberts share which makes Grand Illusions furniture so desirable. “I think the beauty of the catalogue is that we can shoot beautiful room sets. Our shops are relatively small and we don’t have the luxury of space to design entire room sets in each shop.” You’d think vast pieces of furniture like the 22-drawer chest (pounds 525 waxed) would dominate a room with relatively low ceilings. Now we’ve pared down to the essentials, there is no turning back.