Re: “Farage’s flaws are Burnham’s big chance,” by Peter Kellner, TNW #490
Farage is dangerous – and a member of the establishment he affects to despise, putting two fingers up to the very hand that feeds him – but we’ll never bring people like him to heel until we have a system built to represent the many rather than the few.
Until we get some form of PR (yes, even if that means Reform gain a voice), we’ll keep floundering along with no plan beyond the next electoral cycle.
Jean-Marc Le Feuvre
Re: “The age of the disposable prime minister has to end” by Patience Wheatcroft, TNW #490
I could not agree more. It is becoming farcical and soul-destroying all at the same time.
Good governance is far more serious than simply imagining the public can align themselves with yet another leader. Life today is discombobulating enough without this political mayhem.
In this disposable time we exist in, we have this touching faith that it just needs another person at the helm to recapture the spirit and energy of a revitalised government.
Judith A Daniels
Cobholm, Norfolk
Re: Alastair Campbell’s diary: Britain isn’t America – and that’s why Farage had to fall,” TNW #490
I don’t think Farage is finished yet. It was surprising how many voters in Clacton hadn’t heard about the £5m, and even some of those who had heard were still going to vote for him.
Honestly you could hang, draw and quarter Farage, cremate the remains, enclose his ashes in cement, load it in a rocket and fire it at the sun and he’d still be on BBC’s Question Time the next day.
Paul Shields
Re: “The extent of Trump’s humiliation is now clear,” by Paul Mason, TNW #490
Did anyone expect Trump or the idiots he placed in administration to be any good at negotiating? They have no understanding of other cultures and no grasp of geopolitics. The so-called “master” of the Art of the Deal can’t negotiate his way out of a wet paper bag.
Adam Primhak
I’ve thought for a while that it takes a nation that has lost an empire a century before a majority of its population understand and accept the fact. Given that in terms of land area British influence peaked around 1925, that means reality is dawning around now, with Brexit being the last gasp of delusion. The US economic empire is only a few years into its decline.
Norman Burr
But what happens when JD Vance takes over…?
J Burgess
Time for our “special relationship” to end in divorce.
Shane Sidlow
“Trump’s foreign policy” – policy? Donald Trump’s only actual policy is to line his pockets. Everything else, from foreign, domestic, health affairs etc, is just his whim on a given day.
Simon Delaney
Re: “Ann Widdecombe changed politics – and I should know,” by Matthew d’Ancona, TNW #490
Most of the tributes I have read describe her as warm, charming, a strong woman, Catholic, a conviction politician.
They all seem to omit that she was a far right Reform politician, devoted to spreading division and poorly disguised racism.
Andrew Ball
A genuine Christian would build bridges rather than burn them – just ask the Pope. Widdecombe, like Farage, identified those left behind by globalisation and neoliberal hegemony, and capitalised on it.
Giselle Jones
I interviewed her and found her charming, funny and sincere in her faith. But ageing turned eccentricities into bigotries; human sympathy into callous slogans as she became a ludicrous caricature and standard-bearer for the worst aspects of humanity.
Roland Howard
Suggested Reading
The Democrats have screwed up – big time
Re: “The Democrats have screwed up – big time,” by James Ball, TNW #490
The Democrats are in a very difficult position, in that activists are leading them further to the left, but alienating most apolitical Americans in the process. History has shown time and again that if both parties vacate the centre, Americans will go to the right. One of the biggest reasons Kamala Harris lost was because she was tainted as a woke socialist.
Perry Hewitt
Re: “How using a pen can rewire your brain,” by Paola Totaro, TNW #490
One of the many harmful effects of computers is the disappearance of handwritten letters and handwriting skills, as demonstrated in this excellent article. But Paola Totaro does not mention the fact that almost nobody now knows how to hold a pencil or pen.
Children are evidently not taught this in school. Most people, including teachers, appear to hold a pen in their fist, which cannot give the necessary control that the traditional grip between thumb, middle finger and index finger does so well. The fist grip is not only inelegant but also impractical, and the clearest indication of the disappearance of the valuable skill of handwriting.
Valerie Organ
I recently needed to return an item to Amazon. I logged into my account, ticked some boxes, a QR was sent to my phone. I took phone and item to the Post Office, no label required, showed my phone to the assistant, who took a scan of it and put the item into an envelope. He didn’t print a label, just scanned it. As I left, I jokingly said, “we’ll all lose the ability to write soon”. Then I came home and read your article.
John Simpson
The effect of handwriting on the brain is fascinating. After a lifetime of writing, I still do it every day; a list of things to do, names of books or programmes I’d like to read, watch or listen to, reflections on life, even an occasional poem.
However, I have sent this by email as the postal service would probably not deliver a handwritten missive in time for your next issue.
Lyn Farnworth
BELOW THE LINE
Re: “Why Britain still doesn’t know how to treat George Michael” by JP O’Malley, TNW #490. George Michael is absolutely not a guilty pleasure. I’m sorry his biographer Sathnam Sanghera feels that way. George had the most sublime voice and talent; unrecognised by many, but celebrated by others. The George Michael Legacy Project (GMLP) runs a whole weekend of events in late June based in Goring (where George had a home), where unashamed fans sing and dance to his music.
Belinda Scott
Re: “How a Liverpool fan fell in love with Cantona” by John Bleasdale, TNW #490.
I lost interest in club football aged 11 after witnessing the Heysel Stadium disaster live on TV. My love of it was reawakened a decade later by Cantona’s kung-fu kick at Selhurst Park. It is ironic that the PL think the footage damages their “brand image”, as it was one of the defining moments in the 1990s that made English football the juggernaut it is today.
Will Goble
Re: “Gauguin: A warning from history” by Simon Barnes, TNW #490.
I want to see Gauguin, but I also want to read interpretive material contrasting the past with the present.
Stephen O’Donnell
