Linda Colley’s argument about the impact of shifting global geopolitical realities on Western societies is compelling (23 June). But her argument can all too easily be interpreted as support for the mantra of ultra-liberalism promoting austerity as the sole possible course of action.
It may be that austerity is an inevitable consequence of lost global influence, and that extravagant public spending is “wishful thinking”. Some economists disagree.
The alternative is between an austerity equally shared by all according to their means versus an austerity for the many and profligacy for the few. And this old issue of focus, on fairness in the distribution of wealth rather than wealth itself, remains as acute as ever in spite of the changing world order.
Jean-Marc Andreoli
Meylan, France
• It seems Linda Colley might fall into the camp that assumes that capitalism and its required pursuit of endless growth is for ever. Well, as Karl Marx once remarked, “all that is solid melts into air”. The age of austerity is no more solid than mercantilism, the gold standard, Keynesianism, “trickle-down economics” or indeed the British Empire and US hegemony. We are not at the end of history.
Stewart Sweeney
Adelaide, South Australia
• Larry Elliott (16 June) extols the need for growth in the economy. By contrast Alan Mitcham’s letter in the same edition makes it clear that growth is a major problem and certainly not a panacea. It cannot be repeated too often: opting for continued economic growth treats this finite world as if it was infinite. We need to stabilise (or even downsize) the economy, not increase it as if there was no tomorrow.
Norman Coe
Sant Cugat del Vallès, Spain
Coverage of Corbyn
The UK election results require reflection by more than just politicians and the rabid right-wing press (A call for a different Britain, 16 June). I trust the Guardian will also reflect on its own role. While I remain an ardent supporter and reader of the Guardian Weekly, as an overseas observer I was dismayed and surprised by the volume and nature of the attacks your columnists meted out to Corbyn – they were virtually unanimously against him, some piling on repeatedly about how radical, incompetent and hopeless he and his supporters were.
It would have been helpful to read columnists with constructive ideas who supported the overarching progressive approach Corbyn was taking. One guest columnist made the point that Corbyn was one of the few who argued and voted against Britain entering the Gulf War. To me and that columnist this spoke volumes about his integrity and progressive politics.
Brian Gifford
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
• “Those who said Mr Corbyn was unelectable look foolish today” (Leader, 16 June). Are there no mirrors in your columnists’ offices?
Giorgio Ranalli
Ottawa, Canada
• Jeremy Corbyn has attracted the young, yet paradoxically he intends to betray them. He is robbing them of their future right to work in the European Union through his refusal to oppose Brexit. The Labour Party should be honest and make this clear to its electorate that the loss of this right is irretrievable.
Richard Brindle
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Iran’s Syrian boondoggle
Despite Martin Chulov’s superbly clear explication of Iran’s projected road to Damascus (23 June), it took me three reads to catalogue all the discrete players along the route (12 if you include the sovereign governments of Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey, and the road-crew itself as a homogeneous unit), verily “a bewildering game of chess between multiple players”. I had experienced similar befuddlement over sectarian maps of Syria during the bombing war: who allies with whom, why and how long is thorny.
A boondoggle indeed: assuming that construction itself can be finished, how in the world would you protect such a corridor?
RM Fransson
Wheat Ridge, Colorado, US
Briefly
• I read in the Weekly that coal demand fell in 2016 (23 June). That’s good news. But the language of the industry still dominates the discussion. The author says “energy demand growth globally was weak”. The word “weak” makes it sound as if it were a problem. A better description would have been “Despite our best efforts, energy demand globally continued to grow”.
We know we have to change our industrial and economic model. But it seems that the language we use is one of the big barriers to achieving this.
Tim Swann
Trelech, Wales
• In her review of Colm Tóibín’s House of Names (23 June), Kate Clanchy refers to Electra as having “a Freudian complex named after her”. In fact it is a neo-Freudian term, having been first used by Carl Jung. What is more interesting is that she then refers to Electra’s brother, Orestes “as the tormented young man who must murder his father”. Orestes did not murder his father, he murdered his mother who had murdered his father. This seems not so much a Freudian slip as a Freudian whopper.
Josh Beer
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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