I assume that the following is still

illegal according to the draft spec:

  class A {public: int a;};
  class B : private A {protected: A::a;};

but is there any plausible reason why? It doesn't take away access to A::a
that users of B would otherwise have, nor does it increase access to A::a
that users of A would otherwise not have. In this respect, it seems very
similar to:

  class B : private A {public: A::a;};

which *is* legal. This is in contrast to:

  class B : public A {protected: A::a;};

whose illegality I'm not questioning.

Regards,
Robin