In addition to the suggestions to help the prime minister “tackle corporate irresponsibility” (“Five ways to ensure ‘capitalism works for all, not just for the few’,” Business), one topical idea would be to ensure no honours are dished out to people responsible for any action by their firms that are deemed socially unacceptable – avoiding tax, offsetting higher wages with job losses or reduced hours and failing to reduce the “gender gap”.
Franklin Roosevelt, like our current leaders, encountered “resistance from business groups wary of sweeping regulations”. His answer was to award Blue Eagles to companies whose business practices benefited the country; they could then be used in all advertising, so that consumers would know where best to spend or invest. Awards in this country could be given for paying a fair share of tax, fair treatment of all employees, acknowledgement of rights of trade unions and sensible investment in technology to boost productivity. Transparency could further be encouraged by printing the pay ratio between CEO and the average worker on the actual award.
Finally, keeping RBS under state ownership would allow it to become a national bank, whose raison d’etre was not to maximise profits at all costs, but to exist for the benefit of us all.
Bernie Evans
Liverpool
Pope Francis spoke wisely
You are right to query Pope Francis’s remark that the “war” he sees in progress is not fundamentally to do with religion, since there is much evidence to the contrary (“The pope says we are at war: what sort of war?”, Editorial). But he was speaking in the immediate aftermath of an attack on an elderly priest in his own church and it’s clear that he wanted to rule out any aggressive response on the part of his co-believers to the explicitly religious provocation contained in that act.
But in any case, even where dogma is ostensibly in play in conflicts between religious groups, the underlying issue is almost always one of power and control. It was ever thus. Francis is not delusional. He spoke to the moment and to the essential.
Christopher Abbott
Manchester
Badly taught by public schools
I appreciated Catherine Bennett’s concern about government by old Etonians, but I think she missed some of the false values that public schools engender (“Eton’s commitment to public service is a danger to us all,” Comment).
I was at Eton 70 years ago. It seems to me that the lessons I learned there were still being taught in Johnson’s and Cameron’s day and are probably still being taught today. These are some of them. Status is the purpose of life, not service. A position of authority gives you the right to be wrong. Conformity is the only reasonable guide to behaviour. It is more comfortable to behave badly than to behave too well. The right clothes and the right accent entitle you to behave with extreme arrogance. It is essential to know how to disguise your true feelings.
Nick Duffell’s book, Wounded Leaders, analyses the effects of this kind of education.
David Gribble
South Brent
Devon
Fish are not meant to be pets
Finding Dory, the sequel to the smash hit Finding Nemo, may leave some tempted to purchase a “Dory” (a blue tang fish), but these fish belong in the ocean, not in a tank. The novelty of a fish bought on a whim for a child fades quickly (the RSPCA reportedly had to deal with almost 10,000 surrendered fish in the months following the Nemo craze). Cared for properly, blue tang fish can live for more than 20 years – long after the kids have moved out. Go and enjoy Finding Dory. But leave fish in the oceans, where they belong.
Jennifer White
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
London N1
Thousands of stitches in time
Jamie Doward talks of Liz Pichon’s epic illustration of the story of Britain, comparing it with the rather more gruesome Bayeux Tapestry (“‘Bayeux tapestry for Britain’ lets children see the art of history,” News). Has he not heard of the Great Tapestry of Scotland, 160 panels mostly a metre square, recently created by more than 1,000 embroiderers to illustrate the story of that land north of the border? I’m sure the embroiderers of the rest of Britain could be prevailed upon to create a similar work of art to inspire not just the children but the whole nation.
Helen Keating
Castle Douglas
Scotland
Joe Root and cricketers past
No quarrel with Vic Marks’s assessment of Joe Root’s greatness, but in such tables of runs scored or wickets taken one needs to bear in mind the Test years lost through two world wars (“Root’s drive puts him alongside the greats,” Sport).
Sutcliffe and Hobbs lost the years of the First World War, while Hammond, Hutton and Compton lost similarly in the Second. In the cases of Hutton and Compton, they lost the years that could have been their best.
Richard Reed
Horsham, Sussex
