There is one item you could have included in your Election A-Z (In Focus) – financial crises.
Evidence suggests that these occur about every nine years: 1990, 1999, 2008; therefore 2017? In an economy in which debt and financial speculation are the main drivers of growth it is inevitable that speculative bubbles will build and burst with periodic regularity, yet no party is prepared for this contingency.
What is missing from the parties’ putative manifestos is how they will cope with a future financial crisis. Party leaders seem to assume that there can be no repeat of 2008/9, believing the measures taken then have solved the problem, when all the evidence points to the contrary.
Given the parliamentary consensus that austerity is the preferred policy option for dealing with a financial crisis, and given the scale of the cuts already undertaken, will the only remaining option be a savage Greek-like austerity programme? Before I cast my vote I would want to know how each of the parties would tackle any potential financial crisis.
Derrick Joad
Leeds
The convenience is all theirs
Katharine Whitehorn (Magazine) echoes what I have been feeling for some time now. It is becoming increasingly difficult to pay for services such as parking and some local authority services without owning a credit or debit card, and in some instances using a mobile phone. Recently I was unable to order something from a shop without giving a mobile phone number.
I am able to do these things, but am becoming increasingly resentful at not being given the choice of how I pay or communicate. I am also aware that not everyone has a mobile phone or a credit card, and that therefore making these the only methods of obtaining services is discriminatory.
Ella Marks
London W13
Racism harder to ban than race
It was great to see Adam Rutherford (“Race does not exist”, New Review) concluding that “race does not exist, racism does” – an argument that students of the African diaspora have been advancing for some time on related grounds (race is a quasi-scientific category erected and imposed by racists).
However, a few pages away, we had been reminded that racism’s consequences are appalling: “In 2004, LA had 1,133 murders.” Identity politics, as Rutherford notes, cannot simply be dispensed with. Suppose we managed, laudably, to banish the discriminatory word “race”, like the word “cripple”. Acute problems would still need to be addressed. Less abled people have a battery of supports to secure them equality; the same sort of support, at a cultural, political and social level, will be required to overcome the legacies of racism.
R J Ellis
Littleover
Derby
No laments for lion tamer
In the Magazine last week, Matilda Temperley’s story about Thomas Chipperfield “Britain’s last lion tamer”, reminded me of my childhood when, aged 10, I did casual jobs for a travelling circus in Surrey. My early thoughts of joining the circus quickly evaporated when I saw three lionesses cower at the sight of their handler with a pitchfork, and an elderly elephant being subjected to continuous beating. The only natural animal response I noticed came from a lama, which spat at me!
Since then, video evidence of animal abuse in circuses has been widely available and other members of the Chipperfield family have been convicted in the courts for animal cruelty.
The article claimed that Thomas Chipperfield’s “skills” were about to be outlawed by parliament. Unfortunately this has not yet happened, thanks to a small number of MPs who are circus apologists. However, for the majority of the rest of us, the sight of elephants being trained to stand on their heads or lions balancing on mirror balls is no longer something supportable as entertainment.
If Thomas Chipperfield wants to be remembered for his skills in animal husbandry then he should ensure that his remaining circus animals are taken care of in their retirement.
Dr John Hart
Seaford
East Sussex
We are so proud of Ian Curtis
Despite your story last week headlined “Hopes fade for Joy Division museum at singer’s home”, (News) there are plans to commemorate Ian Curtis’s link to this town. I don’t want anyone to think the people of Macclesfield don’t care about this; many of us do, and it has been a long and somewhat bumpy road to the point when at last we feel we are receiving some recognition of our efforts to celebrate Curtis in particular, and Joy Division in general, within the wider culture of this area.
Jeff Teasdale
Director, Incubation Arts
Macclesfield
Just say no to cocoa
What a dastardly act to feature 20 chocolate recipes in last Sunday’s Food Monthly supplement. Some of us are trying to give up chocolate for Lent. What cruelty!
June Sinclair
Reading
