Letter of the week: The Mail is a plague on the public

I have always thought that the Mail is the most visible example of a paper that is read by a significant number of people, particularly women, who don’t share its politics. A friend is a classic example. Voted Remain, close to tears after the referendum, and only ever votes Lib Dem or Labour. Yet she continues with the Mail subscription that she has had for years. I don’t understand it either! 

My uncle Pete was another example, from the other side of the political fence – voted Leave and Tory and read the Mirror all his life. 

If I am right about this lack of correlation being more common than is often thought, the broadcast media, who often take their agendas from the concerns of the print media, are probably too quick to make assumptions about what the newspapers’ readers are worried about. The result being that the likes of the Mail are more influential than they deserve to be.
Andy White

For sheer batshit crazy, triggering headlines to stir up Middle England, the Mail has now been outflanked by the Telegraph. A plague on all of them.
Andrew Jones

My parents consumed the Daily Mail from the early 1970s until their deaths last year and it poisoned their minds in the most boring and predictable ways. I say “consumed”: to consume the Mail is to be the last person in a human centipede of news.
Ste Thomas

Is the Daily Mail really declining? Yes, but it is doing so kicking and screaming. I personally see it as a global newsbrand, more US-influenced now than UK, and the UK newspaper arm is just seen by parent company DMGT as a revenue stream to be preserved as best it can.

Its Saturday newspaper, full of puzzles/TV/lifestyle, still probably sells around a million copies to that siloed over-60s demographic who dream of the 1980s.
Frank Chick

Re: Emily Maitlis’s Diary, TNW #499

It is such a joy to have Emily Maitlis in The New World. Having lost an iPhone to the wheels of a tractor this week, I needed to hear her optimism about the world of tech and sheep!
Nicola Millward

Re: Emily Maitlis on smartphones: it is quite depressing to think that our little rectangular boxes have such a hold on us. Mind you, when two of the little buggers went overboard from my boat in one day, a meltdown did indeed result.
Keith Brisley

Re: “What happens when we forget Hitler?” by Matthew d’Ancona, TNW #499

The absence of knowledge about Nazi tactics and the rise of Hitler and his ideology is deeply concerning. 

We in the west have undergone the 2008 financial crash and the crushing policies of austerity for years. The Germans had the shock of reunification. These long-term events should not be ignored and be countered with a new style of Keynesian economics. 

If our politicians do not act we are, I fear, condemned to repeat our previous mistakes with dire consequences.
Belinda Scott

Re: “America’s new left is getting serious” by Charlotte McDonald-Gibson, TNW #499

Both “sides” of the Democrats need to understand that they are in a symbiotic relationship. It seems fair to say that the energy currently sits with the Democratic Socialists of America. However, from my understanding, for the Democrats to win the Senate, they need to flip at least two seats that Trump won two years ago by a 10-point margin. It is doable, but only with a candidate who doesn’t scare Trump voters.
Perry Hewitt

Re: “Bonnie Greer’s urgent search for our common humanity” by Matt Kelly, TNW #499

I first became aware of Bonnie on the BBC’s Late Review in the mid-1990s. For me, she was the best panellist on that show: her contributions were considered and considerate, always generous and insightful. Her columns were a must-read.

Just when we need thinkers of her calibre more than ever before, the great Ms Greer has left us.
David Lewis

Suggested Reading

Why Netanyahu hates the most powerful film of the year

John Bleasdale

Re: “Why Netanyahu hates the most powerful film of the year” by John Bleasdale, TNW #499

It is repugnant that three years into a genocide, and decades into ethnic cleansing, house demolitions, land theft, mass killings, blockades, forced starvation, settler terrorism – we are STILL discussing the semantics of this. It’s a genocide. Any decent human being can see that. But not our politicians, of course.
Richard Riddle

Re: “Apocalyptic AI fantasies are a stupid distraction” by Philip Ball, TNW #499

The idea that AI may spontaneously develop consciousness is a sci-fi fantasy. AI is good at rule-based activities: games, internet searches, well-defined scientific problems. Consciousness is wholly independent of the ability to perform such activities. Try challenging your dog to a game of chess.
Jim Slattery

Re: Rats in a Sack on Piddington, TNW #499

I know from personal experience that a vicious circle can develop regarding parish council legitimacy. If a small group stays in office as not enough candidates stand to prompt an election, they become complacent and resent new arrivals who could upset a cosy status quo.

Frustrated newcomers then resign; other potential candidates opt to keep well clear. Thus elections remain uncontested and the old guard stay in office.

I cannot say whether this is an accurate description of Piddington but I think it highly unlikely that Tim McNally’s world view is representative!
Norman Burr

BELOW THE LINE

Re: “Great Lives: Bessie Smith” by John Osborne, TNW #499:

A gem of an article. I’ve always loved Bessie Smith but there were things here I didn’t know – including that she had her own train! And yes, she didn’t stop singing, you can hear her in Aretha, Irma Thomas, even Gladys Knight; sometimes listening to their songs I say hello to Bessie.
Phil Morgan

Re: “The strangely comforting Britain of Strictly Come Dancing” by Ros Taylor, TNW #499:

That Strictly has been the cause of countless broken relationships, bullying scandals and chronic injuries isn’t mentioned. Like Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice, the show is past its sell-by date but the BBC never knows when to put them out of their misery.
Neil Paterson

Re: “The word bashful leaves us dopey and grumpy” by Peter Trudgill, TNW #499:

The discussion of being bashful (yet not full of bash) reminded me of this quote from The Code of the Woosters by PG Wodehouse: “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.” 
David Pollard