Letter of the week: Bombastic and self-obsessed, Trump is the west’s downfall

I read somewhere recently that if you stripped out the investment in AI by the big seven tech giants, US GDP grew by only a negligible amount in Q3. Perhaps that feels closer to what Mr and Mrs Average American are feeling right now.
Keith Hobbs

Matthew d’Ancona’s two penultimate paragraphs are the most concerning. Will Donald Trump’s authoritarian circle even risk defeat in the midterm elections due this year? Why did Pete Hegseth summon all the US generals to find out which ones would support Trump/Vance in a coup?
George Emerson 

It’s ironic that Marco Rubio’s surname is an acronym for Rules Based International Order! 
Will Goble

Re: “A cliffhanger moment” by James Ball (TNW #465)

Labour’s new year resolution should be to ignore the right wing press completely. They would get pilloried even if they delivered free beer for life – Reform would complain it was a nasty foreign ale with the wrong taste.
Christopher Harrison

Suggested Reading

The May elections will be Starmer’s cliffhanger moment

James Ball

Re: “A resolution to keep: get rid of Brexit” by Patience Wheatcroft (TNW #465)

A wonderful wish list from Patience. I try to be optimistic, but doubt if more than a couple of her suggestions will come to fruition. If I am allowed an addition, it would be that Starmer grew some balls and made some meaningful attempts to re-engage with Europe.
David Isaacs

Starmer’s red lines on Europe were a mistake from the start. He has been trying to entice voters who are irrevocably lost to Farage madness, while alienating many who share his personal convictions but see him as having sold out. 

He will struggle to implement the kind of policies he should during this parliament, but he should signal clearly in the run-up to the next election that he has, however belatedly, seen the light.
Peter Burke

A major obstacle to progress is the (probably justified) fear that doing something sensible will lose votes. Right now, then, seems like the ideal time to make major positive changes such as re-engaging with the EU, as Starmer’s government could hardly become less popular than it already seems to be.
David Monksfield

The Labour Party was born in the minds of people capable of imagining new realities, “somewhat removed” from the current one. It is the loss of vision, the betrayal of principle in the name of pragmatism, the shilly-shallying, constant U-turns and lack of common sense, that has so disappointed many of us. 

With a stonking majority and regular, incontrovertible polling indicating that a consistent, genuinely democratic majority of British voters now regret Brexit, they have swept it under the carpet until they needed yet another excuse to avoid taxing the unearned income of the rich. Let us then hope this new year for a growing coalescence of Greens, Lib Dems (many of whom share many of the same values) and conviction Labour politicians: and wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could announce the potential coalition agreements, along with election pacts, before the people make their choice in the ballot box?
JW Mawby

Re: “Hogwarts and law courts” by Ian Winwood (TNW #465)

Ian Winwood writes that JK Rowling is “one of the more unpleasant people in the world”. He must have led a very sheltered life.
Peter Mole

I object to Rowling being called “unpleasant”. she has strong views about women’s rights and transgender issues. She is perfectly entitled to her opinion. 
Adam Primhak

Re: “An accidental hero” by Tanit Koch (TNW #465)

Tanit’s piece on the October 7 hero Remo El-Hozayel concludes like this: “‘Here in Israel,’ he said, ‘Not everything is perfect. But we are trying to make it perfect.’ That is a great new year’s resolution, for everyone.”

The Israeli government’s actual new year’s resolution has been to announce a ban on 37 humanitarian agencies working in Gaza. This follows the killing of hundreds of aid workers and the total ban on international media from reporting on the annihilatin of Gaza close-up. Just remember – the Israeli government does not want journalists or aid workers to bear witness to the cruelty, barbarity and genocide it is committing in Gaza.
Richard Riddle 

Re: Letters (TNW #465) It’s to The New World’s credit that the opposing but thoughtful letters of Karlin Rushbrooke and Richard Debonnaire are printed side by side in the new year edition of the paper.

Personally I’m more with Richard on this one, and would point out to Karlin that arming ourselves and the Ukrainians is about reducing deaths and maintaining freedoms in the long run.

But thanks to all (including Paul Mason, who wrote the original article) for engaging in sensible dialogue. It gives me hope for 2026.
Mike Stephenson
Northumberland

Re: “The strange history of angels” by Simon Barnes (TNW #464)

I enjoyed the article very much, but I suggest there is more complexity to the nature of angels as represented in the Bible than he suggests. 

Thus, Genesis 6 1-4 states the “sons of God” populate the Earth by copulating with women! That reference suggests a male gender for angels – the most usual interpretation of “sons of God” – and not a very spiritual version of it either! 
Paul Madge
Witnesham, Suffolk

BELOW THE LINE

Re: “Look up here, I’m in heaven” by Paul Morley (TNW #465) Beautifully written about a beautiful human, David Bowie.
Elma Goncalves

Thank you, Mr Morley. Bowie was always looking forward. Sure he stole from others, but what a beautiful butterfly whose influence shines on. 
Tim Chaplin

A fabulous catch-up on who we might think Bowie was, or Bowie was to us, listeners, watchers, dancers, dreamers, thinkers, lovers.

A fat pulse of growing up, from a first cassette in 1969 to a final CD in 2016, both audio journeys leading with space, oddity, stars. Always getting us to look, exist elsewhere, beyond this mortal coil.
Michael Mayhew

Re: Rats in a Sack on the Reform candidate who wants non-Christians to eat bacon for a month (TNW #465). 

What, even vegetarians?
Mike Giles

If Reform get in, I will become Muslim and then reluctantly prove my conversion to Christianity with state-sponsored bacon. It’s a tough life. 

Also, how does one learn to eat sausages? Is there a course where you start with chipolatas and work your way up to kielbasa?
Alistair Knight