THE winner of the Turner prize, 43-year-old Grayson Perry wore a heavily-embroided, mauve satin dress with puff sleeves while collecting his £20,000 award for a painted vase.

The unusual Mr Perry, married with an 11-year-old daughter Flo, gets Arts Council lottery cash to help him embroider his frocks.

A spokesman said: "Embroidery is considered a craft skill. Perry's dresses are art works in themselves. We contributed £2,500 towards one of them."

Can there be much wrong with a nation that pays transvestites to embroider their own frocks?

Colin Henson,

Moorcroft Road,

Woodthorpe, York.

Updated: 11:41 Friday, December 12, 2003