The fact that he did not defect, was his courageous discretion to make in the difficult arena of ideological warefare. Curiosity is a crucial ingredient of a sane and questioning person. As an agent it is mandatory and as a highly successful author paramount. A successful, sane and brave man.

Lionel, Windhoek, Namibia

I wish I had 10% of this man's talent.You could hardly call him "pro establishment" all of his recent books have a strong message.
To all of those snipers,try writing yourselves!!!

Bob Greenaway, Tamarin, Mauritius

So John Le Carre wanted to defect to the country of the Kronstadt rebellion, the collectivization, the Ukrainian famine, the Kirov murder, the great Purge of the thirties, the Gulags, the Katyn massacre, the Doctors' Plot? No wonder he wrote that absurd article on the USA in the Timers in 2003

Mladen Andrijasevic, be'er Sheva , Israel

How could Le Carre's MI6 have been wrecked by Kim Philby? he joined the organisationeight years after Philby had been fired.

Also, what evidence is there that Philby was responsible for anyone's death in Albania? He never knew the operational details to identify a single spy.

Nigel West

Nigel West, London, England

Stupid man !!!!

My mother-in-law could tell him all about Eastern Block at the time John Le Carre is talking about. She was living in Poland during Stalins rule & all she talks about his death & death again !!! Might be a whizz to people like Le Carre, but to my mother-in-law it was survival !!!

ian payne, WALSALL,

Wish he had done.

bill, brum,

No surprise. Cornwall is enthralled by sham and even his writing is a grand deception: pulp/genre stuff pretending to be serious and seriously informed literature.

Jody Rope, Key largo, USA

After all that childish 'moral equivalence' posturing nobody will be greatly surprised. This is the second fake in a couple of weeks to get a bit of attention by pretending he once thought of doing something. Still, it's a bit more plausible than Obama joining the army.

John B, Middlesbrough, UK

If he had gone, he'd not have been short of company what with Burgess, McLean, Philby, the Krogers, George Blake, and the rest

Richard, Chicago, USA

The brother of a friend of my Chinese grandfather-in-law in Singapore went to China in the 60s to see what life was like under Mao. He was never heard from again. Mr Le Carre made the right decision.

Bill Peter, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I doubt anybody is really surprized by this confession. The man is as pink as a flamingo.

Jerry, seattle, us

What a loss it would have been for your fans out in the world for they would have missed out on your writing. Good thing you didn't.

Prabhat, UK,