Having left London five years ago for a job in Manchester, I have sympathy with Rosie Walker’s account of spiralling rent and property costs in London, (“Have we reached ‘Peak London’ as millennials leave in record numbers?”, Comment). However, the notion that finding work outside London is insurmountably difficult and that jobs in “politics, national media, much of the creative industries or the arts” only exist in the capital is London-centric navel gazing of the highest order.
Since moving to the north-west, I have been amazed at the range of opportunities. The development of world-class cultural spaces, particularly in Manchester, has been astounding. ITV and the BBC are based in Salford; Channel 4 might soon be moving to Liverpool. We have access to some of Britain’s top theatres, including the Exchange in Manchester and the Everyman in Liverpool. Two new Manchester arts complexes (Home and the £110m Factory) are world class.
Aside from internationally renowned orchestras (including the Hallé and the BBC Philharmonic), the north-west has for years been the heart of the British music industry. In the Royal Northern College of Music and the School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University we have two of the top ranked arts and music schools in Europe.
In my field, most major law firms have substantial offices. Good train links mean that I can be at the Royal Courts of Justice in London by 9am. The Spinningfields area of Manchester has become a financial hub, with most major banks and accountancy firms in the area. The notion that “some jobs only exist in London” is nonsense. As for the housing situation, I could comfortably afford to buy my own place even when I was in a junior role and my commute is a 15-minute walk.
Nick Spearing
Manchester M3
Big tobacco v the smugglers
It is far from obvious that “Tobacco firms ‘engineer prices’ to thwart taxes on smoking” (News). Why would these greedy companies cross-subsidise loss-making product lines with their premium brands and so depress overall profits and profitability?
There is a more plausible explanation: the companies are trying to price their budget products to stay competitive with smuggled cigarettes. As smoking is increasingly concentrated in the poorest groups in society, the UK’s high tobacco taxes become more punitive and regressive for those least able to bear them. Switching to smuggled products is one source of relief.
To legitimise such taxes, the government needs better to support lawful options to reduce the economic pain for poor households, while recognising that poorer smokers tend to be more dependent on nicotine. By not imposing extra taxes on vaping and e-cigarettes and encouraging smokers to switch, the government can promote a healthy alternative and fight the smugglers.
Clive Bates
Counterfactual Consulting, London SW12
David Sweanor
Adjunct professor of law, University of Ottawa, Canada
Flies in the ointment
You report that Donald Trump ordered his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, to kill a distracting fly in the Oval Office (“Republican fears mount after Trump’s White House cull”, News). Perhaps Priebus recalled a similar incident in 1944, when Hitler and other senior Nazis met for a strategy conference in Rastenburg. A fly began buzzing around the room, landing several times on Hitler’s shoulder and a map. When Hitler ordered a nearby adjutant, Waffen SS Lieutenant Colonel Fritz Darges, to “dispatch the nuisance”, Darges suggested that as the fly was an airborne pest, the job should go to the adjutant of the Luftwaffe, Nicolaus von Below. For this effrontery, Darges was sent to the Eastern Front.
Brendan O’Brien
Waterford, Munster, Ireland
Grazing prevents wild fires
The intense dry season has undoubtedly contributed to the recent spate of wild fires in Spain, Portugal and Italy (News) but there is another cause – the decline in traditional livestock farming methods, in which sheep, goats and cows are allowed to wander through woodland. They feed on plants, reducing the supply of flammable material. In Sicily, traditional transhumance is still practised, in which cattle are taken up to high mountain pasture in the summer and allowed to graze on grassland and forest plants, thus reducing the availability of combustible material.
Carl Gardner
London EC1
Super troupers
As someone who has appeared on the Edinburgh fringe for more than 20 years, I thoroughly enjoyed Vanessa Thorpe’s article (“Stars from comedy’s punk past return…”, News) about “the young ones” – Gyles Brandreth, Alexei Sayle etc – who are playing there this year. My comedy partner, Ronnie Golden, and I are fringe regulars. I wonder if I qualify for your definition of an older performer? I am 82. He isn’t.
Our show, Just the Two of Us at Six, is at the Gilded Balloon on 15 and 16 August, with a warm-up show on the 14th in North Berwick.
Barry Cryer
London
