Re: “Nolan’s true message? When reading dies, so does civilisation” by Matthew d’Ancona, TNW#494
George Orwell feared a world where people burned books, but Aldous Huxley had the more relevant fear of a world where people just did not feel the need to read.
Paul Nugent
The thing about reading an extended text is that you get to question what is being said and you can reread what you don’t understand. Generally, in any text, the same idea gets presented in different ways so you get a 360-degree view, which increases your understanding; you also tend to get alternative ideas presented, which you mostly don’t get online.
Having books means you can always return to refresh your memory or check something you read online, and the references provide a potential shopping list for other sources of learning. And that’s the thing, isn’t it? It’s about learning.
Whatever your beliefs, you should never exclude learning about what others believe. Books give you a permanent library of ideas you can draw on to understand your world, and it will be a sad day if they cease to exist.
Janet Bayford
As someone who has been a keen reader since I first learned to read about 75 years ago, I find I am not reading as much in the way I used to and that is not solely due to ageing and the vagaries of focusing my eyes. However, I am accessing information and reflecting on it by the wider range of media that are available to us today. Indeed, I can access far more information now and there are “tools”, not least AI, to enable me to reflect more effectively.
To be fair to Matthew d’Ancona, he casts scorn on the kind of dismissal of young people that often appears written by colleagues in the media. The world changes continually and we have to adapt to it. For too many who consider themselves to be “progressive”, pessimism is an end in itself.
Alasdair Macdonald
Glasgow, Scotland
I suspect that reading books (as opposed to comics, newspapers and magazines) has always been a minority sport. For me the shock was that my daughter was not asked to read one at all even in sixth form.
However, I don’t think that you need to read books on Christianity or Islam to grapple with extremism, which can attach itself to almost anything – sport, religion, politics, race. It is probably a search for the sense of belonging given by membership of a group, or with longing for simple answers, or, cynically, the desire to manipulate, dominate and profit from others. It is the disease, not the symptom, that must be understood and treated.
Peter Basford
Re: “Is Andy Burnham just a lucky general?” by Tom Baldwin, TNW #493 The answer to Tom Baldwin’s question is no. But time is required to see whether Burnham and Labour can deliver.
Within the current financial framework, we know there isn’t enough to adequately fund social care, defence and public investment. Either we tax the rich and clip their wings, or continue to dance to their tune.
Keith Brisley
Re: “In the court of the new Sun King” by Emma-Kate Symons, TNW #493
The idiotic Bernard Arnault and twerps like Elon Musk show the truth of the old saying, “you can see what God thinks of money by looking at the people he gives it to”.
And now we’re hurtling towards climate collapse, and God knows what else, thanks largely to fools like this. Tax them up to their eyeballs.
Alexander Blackburn
Re: “How Trump will fiddle the mid-terms” by Tom Arms, TNW #493
This was an overly optimistic view of Trump’s probable reaction to rejection at the ballot box. Not only are the judges and key election administrators in his pocket, so are the senior military officers he appointed.
However Americans vote, I fear we have already seen the last legitimate election in the US for some years.
Simon Garrett
Re: “Can the Pope stop AI armageddon?” by Elizabeth Djinis, TNW #493
I am not religious, but in a world where profit and the influence of the extremely rich play such a big role, having someone like the Pope, whose focus is on human wellbeing more broadly, is surely helpful.
Taking on a role like this would be a lot to ask of a single head of state, however decent, as all are under pressure to put particular interests above the wider interest of all humans.
Anna Barnett
Re: “It’s paradise for dementia sufferers. But is it ethical?” by Eugene Costello, TNW #492
Your article asks, “would you want to live in a care home?” with the implicit answer being, “no, so I don’t want my loved one in one”. This assumes someone with dementia has the same needs as a non-sufferer.
My husband died of dementia in April. Before that, when he needed someone with him constantly in case he did something dangerous, I organised a two-week stay in a care home. It was respite for me; he didn’t understand why it was necessary, but accepted that we were having separate holidays.
The care home had all the features of places described with horror in the article – locked doors, regular meal times, a day room where many sit doing nothing, with the TV on. Four days in, my husband thought he was living there permanently and made it clear that was what he wanted.
I transferred him to the long-stay section of the care home. He settled in happily, not caring that he no longer had an en-suite bathroom. He enjoyed the food and spent his time dozing in the day room, TV on.
At the end, I felt my visits only disrupted his quiet life. I imagine that the regular routine and the constant presence of kind staff made him feel safe. The locked doors could have added to that feeling of safety. He died peacefully in his own room at the home.
My conclusion is that we shouldn’t project what we would like on to a person in a completely different situation, struggling with an appalling illness.
Catherine Wilson Eiles
Carmarthenshire
BELOW THE LINE
Re: “Has-bin: This could be the end of Nigel Farage” by James Ball, TNW #493:
What we all want to know about Reform is simply: Have there been any monies coming from Russia? I don’t know. I’m only asking questions.
Ste Livesey
The explanations concerning so-called “gifts” and “donations” shift and change with every breath. Obfuscation and sleight-of-mouth abound. It’s like watching the old card trick Chase the Lady, except that all three cards are jokers.
Colin Hayes
Re: Alastair Campbell’s Diary on Trump and Infantino, TNW #493:
The Fifa Peace Prize should never be presented again. It should only ever be given to vain, hubristic, thin-skinned, grandiose, self-important, cry-bully idiots. No decent person should ever be tainted by this Nobel wooden spoon. Trump should be the one and only joke winner.
Paul Shields
Re: “Tolerance and its limits” by Nigel Warburton, TNW #493:
The guillotine cartoon on the T-shirt that so upset Nigel Farage could be seen in the same light as the painter Magritte’s famous illustration of a tobacco pipe bearing the caption “c’est nes pas une pipe” (this is not a pipe). A depiction of an object is not the object itself.
Audrey Bailey
