Madam, - Though his eyes are constantly on the heavens, Dr McWilliams rarely puts a foot wrong. Nevertheless I think he might reconsider what he wrote about Antarctica (March 23rd): "East of the pole this continent is one large landmass; to the west it comprises a large archipelago. . ."
The first problem is that, strictly speaking, nowhere in Antarctica is east or west of the pole: everywhere lies to the north. Secondly, it is true that, when looked at from the Atlantic, the large landmass lies to the east of the zero longitude line and the archipelago to the west. However, seen from New Zealand, along the 180° line, the landmass lies to the west and the archipelago to the east.
Perhaps Dr McWilliam would be so good as to explain the conventions that have been adopted to avoid these ambiguities. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DRURY, Avenue Louise, Brussels.