Let’s ditch the growth dogma
Since the G7 meeting there has been a steady stream of rhetoric coming out of Washington and Europe (9 June). It would seem that the two parties are diametrically opposed, with Trump being against free trade and the Paris climate-change agreement, while we (the “civilised” world) are for those things.
However, I really can’t see a big difference, as everyone wants growth. The difference is that one side believes that free trade is the correct path to growth while the other believes that less free trade will bring more growth.
The elephant in the room is that growth produces emissions. Massive quantities of emissions. Which is something that more than negates the Paris agreement. Of course “green growth” is regularly extolled, but this is barely more than futuristic pie in the sky. The most certain way to quickly reduce emissions is to jettison the growth dogma. If we fail to do this, then the Paris agreement is irrelevant anyway.
So the real difference between Trump and Europe is that Trump has said that he is dumping the Paris agreement, while we, like false prophets, are theatrically bemoaning the death of something that we are busy killing ourselves.
I’m not sure which disgusts me more: Trump’s arrogance or our self-delusion and hypocrisy.
Alan Mitcham
Cologne, Germany
Facebook’s identity crisis
Facebook has problems (26 May). The reason is that Mark Zuckerberg’s “simple philosophy” is at odds with the blundering giant his project has become. His wants Facebook to bring us all together in one “global community”, so that we will be able to share ideas like we do “at home, at work, in cafes and in classrooms”.
The problem is that how people behave in public is not at all how they behave in the relative anonymity of a multitude. It is a misnomer to refer to the 2 billion Facebook users as a “community”. A community is a small group of people who know, meet and converse with each other in the normal course of their daily lives. In such communities people’s behaviour is moderated by group opinion and public opprobrium if anyone oversteps what is decent.
Facebook has to make up its mind what its purpose is. Is it a community chatroom for friends and family, with the appropriate rules? Or is it a global newspaper or propaganda machine, with different rules of behaviour?
Clive Wilkinson
Rothbury, UK
Don’t give up on music
I have to write to offer support to Hugh Muir (2 June). I started to learn the recorder for the very first time at 60 and, despite fingers like clothes pegs whenever an examiner appeared, managed to scrape through Grade 8 just after reaching 70. Now I play most sizes of recorder, including some that require me to transpose the music as I play.
It is never too late though it may take a little longer than it takes the young. You can do anything with practice. Passing the exam is less important than doing it, and most important of all is realising that you are making progress. Play as much as possible and occasionally play something from an earlier period in your studies, and see just how much you have moved on.
I have returned to piano lessons after a break of 66 years and am filled with optimism. But there won’t be any exams; I’m probably too old to find my way to the exam room without help!
Valerie Flook
Aberdeen, UK
All books are worth reading
As a bibliophile and an avid reader, I read Alex Preston’s article (2 June) with great interest. I too love the feel and smell of books and have been enticed to buy or borrow a book because of its cover design.
However, there are issues not mentioned in your piece. Ebooks are considerably cheaper than paper copies. They are also instantly and universally available. For most of the last 40 years I have lived in Turkey, where it has not always been possible to access books in English. The exchange rate puts many books beyond reach. If I buy in the UK I have to transport them. With an e-reader, I can carry hundreds of books in my handbag without fearing the luggage scales at the airport.
Let’s just celebrate the fact that the world is still peopled by book lovers, who can read in either form without feeling that there is a competition going on.
Celia Gaşgil
Izmir, Turkey
Briefly
• Owen Jones provides the counter-terrorism eulogy of Manchester: home of Oasis, the Smiths, football and Coronation Street (26 May). No doubt, but what about the Hallé Orchestra and Whitworth Art Gallery? In countering terrorism, high culture has a role as well. As Ovid wrote in the first century BC: “Faithful study of the liberal arts humanises the spirit and does not permit it to be cruel.” This ought to be a powerful rallying cry against terrorism. Let’s defend civilised values against the attacks that threaten them.
David Alexander
London, UK
• That another US president should pay lip service to Christian values should not surprise; Donald Trump is just the most egregiously insincere in his beliefs, as is his wont in other matters (26 May). In my time the one sincere Christian president was Jimmy Carter. The US follows the gospel of Mammon; the word “Christian” is flimsy window-dressing, done up for the hoi polloi.
RM Fransson
Wheat Ridge, Colorado, US
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