As a long-term resident of Wavertree, Luciana Berger’s constituency, I found very little to recognise in your report (“Anger, denial and prejudice fester on the streets of Liverpool Wavertree”, News). Wavertree is a socially and economically disparate constituency whose politics reflect that fact.
First, in a piece that implies a high level of casual anti-Jewish racism in the constituency, it seems odd that the writer didn’t visit Childwall, a neighbourhood where many Jewish people live, and canvass opinions there. Second, he made no reference to the fact that parts of the constituency have Lib Dem councillors, which suggests Wavertree is not quite the hotbed of leftwing radicalism that he claims. In more affluent parts, there is a longstanding antipathy to Labour following Militant’s intervention in the 1980s.
The third point is that much of the worst antisemitic abuse Berger has received has been from people who have nothing to do with Wavertree or, indeed, the Labour party. Berger is unlikely to win back this seat as anything other than a Labour candidate. There are many members of Wavertree Labour party, myself included, who feel immensely sad about this prospect, while standing some way to her left on many issues.
Lynsey Hanley
Liverpool L18
Party for two? No thanks
The key factor missing from the politicians’ statements (“What is the future for progressives?”, Focus) is any reference to proportional representation as a means for changing the political culture. Luciana Berger mentions that people are sick of the “false choice between the established parties” but doesn’t even consider that it is first-past-the-post (FPTP) that produces this scenario.
People vote for the party that is most likely to win – not necessarily the party they support – over the party they least prefer. Angela Rayner assumes that “millions of voters” were won over by Labour’s 2017 manifesto, but that may not be the case. Jess Phillips feels the need to move away from tribalism, but FPTP and the two-party system it produces shuts down different voices.
The Labour party continues to ignore calls for PR because it has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. The chances of any of the MPs in the Independent Group being elected is pretty small given the present system. If we heard them calling for PR, that would be truly progressive.
Monica Saunders
Teddington, Middlesex
Train teachers about FGM
Your report noting that the secretary of state for education, Damian Hinds, has announced that female genital mutilation will be included in the new relationships and sex education curriculum in secondary schools is welcome (“All secondary pupils to be taught FGM dangers”, News). This is a big step towards ensuring young people are aware and know how to report FGM. But to ensure this change works, teachers need to be fully informed about the complexities of FGM.
Research by Youth for Change shows 94% of young people feel school staff don’t know enough about FGM. Teachers are front-line professionals and often the first point of call for young people. With students being more aware, there is a likelihood that reporting will increase.
Teachers must be equipped to deal with such reporting. Combining education for students with mandatory, standardised training for teachers is the ultimate route to young people’s safety.
Gemma Munday, Youth for Change
London EC1
We create our own monsters
Congratulations to Sonia Sodha for her thoughtful article on Shamima Begum, which summarises the dangers when politicians behave in a non-reflective way (“Put yourself in Shamima Begum’s shoes before you damn her out of hand”, Comment). We are being invited to condemn a 19-year-old who has just given birth in difficult circumstances. No thought is given to how this will affect the baby’s life trajectory and feelings about the UK, let alone a troubled and troubling young woman.
The moment we create a “monster” we avoid the actions needed to aid child and teenage development. The 16-year-old now being called a monster for the awful rape and murder of a six-year-old turns out to have caused concerns from the age of six. At the same time, we cut children’s services. Monsters are not born but co-created.
Dr Valerie Sinason
London NW3
Sins, yes, but crimes too
The sex abuse allegations at St Benedict’s school in Ealing, west London, raise fundamental questions about how religious and secular authorities confront and deal with “sin” (“Head of Catholic order failed to tell police of sexual abuse”, News). When the headteacher responded to questions concerning one of his staff, Father David Pearce, about allegations of abuse and said: “You can be rest assured he will seek absolution for his sins”, he was reflecting a view that sins are matters of faith to be decided on religious grounds rather than crimes to be decided in a secular court of law.
What we need to see from all religious authorities is a clear recognition that when a crime is committed and, importantly, covered up, it is not just a sin to be absolved by canonical law or any other “in-house” procedure, but is in fact a crime, plain and simple.
Professor David Stephens
Brighton
Back to the old House
The debate about how Churchill should be judged has missed something very relevant. In 1943, faced with a House of Commons destroyed by bombing, he argued firmly for a complete reinstatement of the old House, citing particularly the value of the adversarial politics we know so well, and the dangers of an amphitheatre in which shades of opinion could be shown. It is interesting to note that Lady Astor urged him to look not to the past but to the future, but with no success.
Today we have the EU pleading with our leaders to compromise and find common ground, failing to understand that in the present climate those are dirty words. One wonders what Churchill would make of the behaviour of the Commons today; and how the nation would now be governed if other counsels had prevailed. An interesting game: picture where today’s MPs would sit in a semicircular house.
Derek Long
Liverpool
Baez still brilliant and timely
Kate Kellaway’s revelatory interview with Joan Baez inspired me to travel to Manchester for her farewell concert (Q&A, The New Review). With remarkable stamina and passion undimmed, and despite suffering from a heavy cold, Joan sang movingly through her back pages, focusing unapologetically on her very personal interpretations of Bob Dylan’s great 1960s anthems.
However, for me, the highlight was her stirring rendition of Woody Guthrie’s Deportee from the 1940s. Guthrie had been incensed by radio reports of a plane crash in California that described the dozens of Mexican migrant workers who died as “just deportees”.
As Joan pointed out with feeling, the song is just as relevant today in Trump’s America.
Mike Pender
Cardiff
An architect for our times
Frank Gehry may or may not be “the world’s greatest architect” (“Gehry at 90”, The New Review). However, what can be said of him is that he produces irrational architecture that fits perfectly with the irrational times we live in.
Paul Notley
London W4
