“Dear liberals, don’t forget what free speech means” by Matthew d’Ancona, on Graham Linehan wasn’t arguing for “free speech’ – it was arguing for the protection of speech that it agrees with. The article ignores the reason Linehan was met by armed police (it’s an airport, they’re all armed), instead opting to paint a draconian view of a free speech crackdown.
At worst, this was an endorsement of some disgusting views and I find it regrettable that such a supposedly “liberal” publication would platform these without challenge.
Bryn Jenkins
I understand Matthew d’Ancona’s defence of the right to make the argument for single-sex spaces, but he has chosen a poor example of a champion.
Victoria Donaldson
“Dear liberals…” was a brave article by Matt d’Ancona. Thank you for brilliantly articulating the views of so many of us.
Michael McKeown
Re: Matthew d’Ancona’s “The civil legacy of Charlie Kirk” (TNW website). Hateful views presented in a gentlemanly way are still hateful. Kirk suggested that prominent African American women like Michelle Obama only get to where they are through affirmative action, in the process stealing a white man’s job. What I worry about is whether this is America’s Reichstag moment.
Nick Slocombe
I enjoyed reading this thoughtful article. But I struggle with weighing the value of Kirk being polite and understanding to those who disagreed with him when his own views were so ultimately careless about the lives of others, and when he supported the likes of Trump and Vance.
Susan Tekin
I must take issue with Matthew d’Ancona’s suggestion (TNW #450) that the loathsome and dangerous Tommy Robinson could be described as an “Old Lutonian”. He might well have been raised in the town of my birth, but the idea that he might ever have been educated at my alma mater, the former Luton Grammar school, is beyond ludicrous.
We Old Boys of the school were always known as Old Lutonians – and have been proud of it. Mr Robinson, or whatever he now chooses to call himself, did Luton the greatest service by leaving it.
Barry Neale
Chapeau to Matt Kelly for his insightful article on how to tackle Nigel Farage (TNW #451) and by extension to Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin for doing exactly that.
There is no current disciplinary structure extant in parliament to rein in or punish Farage. And Farage knows it.
I have recently reported him for lying about refugees and Lee Anderson for commenting on a case in progress. I sent a full report, with photos of the offensive posts to the Cabinet Office, the commissioner for standards and the attorney general, citing the Nolan Principles and, in the case of Anderson, the sub judice rules, which he had clearly broken. The responses could be boiled down to: “nothing to do with me, guv.”
Carol Hedges
Re: James Ball on Reform’s conference (“The end of democracy”, TNW #451). I had hoped that seeing the US economy struggling because of Trump’s tariffs and sheer incompetence might act as a timely warning to us in the UK that a similar approach would have the same consequences. Sadly, I think the only way we will learn is to experience a Reform government – no NHS, economic chaos and civil unrest.
Mary Maclean
If Reform win the next election, how will the French react to their coasts being swamped by small boats full of progressive liberals and democrats?
Christopher Harrison
By welcoming past supporters and colleagues of Boris Johnson into Reform, could Farage be building a Trojan Horse that leads to his own demise?
John Simpson
Re: “When a patriot becomes a nationalist” by Patience Wheatcroft (TNW #451). Patriotism surely involves wanting the best for your country and finding its trashing offensive. So any true patriot can only be a Remainer/Rejoiner. Francis Eaves
To have patriotism, you do not need to declare it. You simply have to live it. When flags are installed and aggressive action is considered against those not considered patriotic enough, the whole concept is devalued.
David Rolfe
I am fundamentally anti-patriotism. My own group were the agricultural Kentish, but I’m now resident in Scotland.
We are all migrants and immigrants, and the piracy we got up to along with other colonial pirates, often competing with us for the rights of larceny, would be against international law today.
As I pointed out to construction workers in the pub who were moaning about immigrants, “you are the immigrants, coming down here from London.”
Keith Brisley
Reading “Whose chaos do you prefer?” by Emma-Kate Symons (TNW #450) made me think of the wise words of Charles de Gaulle in 1962: “How can you govern a nation that has 246 varieties of cheese?” The biggest problem for Emmanuel Macron is that 63 years later, France has nearly 1,000 varieties of cheese. Sacré bleu!
Robert Boston,
Kingshill, Kent
I enjoyed Jonn Elledge’s Nerd’s Eye View on the planets (TNW #450), but there’s no need to go as far as Melbourne for a similarly sized scale model of the solar system. The inventor Pip Youngman designed the Somerset Space Walk along the towpath of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, with one set of planets installed in each direction from the central Sun, a 2.5 metre-diameter concrete sphere.
It’s a shame that Pip couldn’t include the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, but that would be a football 76,000km away, so not accessible to even a hardy walker.
Andrew Spackman,
Daventry, Northants
Re: Sophie Watson’s “Where Putin tried to rewrite history” (TNW #450) on Ukraine and the way in which its language was suppressed before independence. It is worth pointing out the efforts of the Bolsheviks, who instituted a policy known as “korenizatsia”, meaning something like “rooting”. Under this, schools, publishing houses and so on promoted the use of both Russian and Ukrainian.
This lasted into Stalin’s time, until his murderous paranoia moved the process into reverse. It is worth noting how Putin and his nationalists are given to distorting history by blaming Lenin and his Bolsheviks for “inventing” Ukraine.
Jeff Lewis,
Greater Manchester
BELOW THE LINE
Re: “Starmer’s reshuffle is not enough” by Paul Mason (TNW #451). After Rayner and Mandelson, Keir Starmer is finished and so will Labour be if they don’t jettison him. The longer they leave it, the closer it brings us to a Reform government.
To paraphrase Danny’s (Ralph Brown) view on politics (“man”) in Withnail and I (1987): “If you’re hanging on to a rising balloon, you have a difficult decision – let go before it’s too late or hang on and keep getting higher, posing the question: how long can you keep a grip on the rope? They’re selling ‘Starmer Out’ stickers on eBay, man.”
WILL GOBLE
Few who ploughed through Labour’s tepid manifesto should be surprised by its inertia. A broken nation, exhausted by years of misgovernment, needed better than a collection of mediocre policies that avoided anything too controversial and were watered down if they appeared too radical (like the £28bn to fund the green transition…).
The country needed a radical and transformative programme, including rejoining the EU, PR, and wealth taxes, to get this country back on its feet. Starmer can reshuffle all he likes, but the inertia will only continue. It’s not people who need to change, but policies.
MARK GRAHAME
