To compare MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle and other trans-inclusive men in the Labour movement to Andrew Tate – one of the most disgusting men on the internet, accused of rape and sex trafficking – is downright disturbing (“Forget Andrew Tate – what about the host of misogynists in Labour’s ranks?”, Comment). May I remind Catherine Bennett that there is a long and important tradition of the Commons being an adversarial institution. I might also remind her that this is an emotive issue for pro-trans politicians. For men like Russell-Moyle and Ben Bradshaw, the constant gaslighting and public hysteria must make this feel more like 1988 than 2023. Section 35 is the new section 28.
The reforms laid out in the Scottish reform bill do not go far enough, but would have been a start. The Tory torpedoing of Scotland’s legislation is nothing but a tragedy.
Alex Charilaou, Labour students trans officer and co-chair of Labour for Trans Rights
West Drayton, London
Good to hear Catherine Bennett outing the disgraceful misogyny of the Labour party and its Vichy female feminists who back these bullying males. Rosie Duffield’s courage in the face of intimidatory men is admirable.
Mark Pulley
Birmingham
No enjoyment like reading!
David Barnett (“OMG! It’s Jane Austen… the TikTok generation embraces new heroine”, News) quotes an archly superficial character from Pride and Prejudice, Mr Bingley’s sister, who is ostensibly extolling the pleasures of reading, but is in effect attempting to put down Elizabeth Bennet as she is reading rather than playing cards. The same quote can be found on the reverse of the current £10 note, which in my opinion is equally misguided.
Gayna Walls
Hythe, Kent
A leader and a diplomat
What is the true measure of leadership? According to the Jonathan Eyal (“Amid the smoke of war, power in Europe is shifting decisively to the east”, Comment), a strong leader should rapidly make bold decisions without the impediment of that nuisance called diplomacy. It follows that he seems to disapprove of the way that Olaf Scholz has sought to build a multilateral consensus with neighbours and allies concerning a matter that is very serious indeed. I hope that one may be forgiven for mistaking Scholz’s behaviour to be that of a mature and experienced statesman who considers the consequences of his actions. This is in sharp contrast to the rather brash and bombastic nature of British politics that has led to a continuing deterioration of its citizens’ quality of life.
Jackson Smith
Offenbach am Main, Germany
Eye-catching, but is it art?
Peter Conrad (“Spectacular, sensational… but do I want Dalí’s clocks to melt around me?”, Focus) hits the shimmering nail on its virtual head with his penultimate word: “spectacular”. That’s what most of immersive art is, a spectacle, nothing to do with art. Just as with machine-learning art, it seems to think art is only about what it looks like.
Brian Smith
Berlin, Germany
In the west, nepotism rules
Martha Gill complains about nepotism for the rich and powerful, but omits to mention the privilege of those born in the west (“Isn’t it natural that children want to give their children a leg-up? Yes, and that’s the problem”, Comment). I’m a white, middle-class, western man, with all the privilege and benefits: free healthcare, free education, a stable society, safe streets, an at least superficially honest police force, safe and reasonably well-maintained public transport system, free museums and art galleries. People born in the circumstances depicted in, say, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire haven’t got much of a chance of competing against my unearned privilege.
The preferential treatment of the children of the rich and powerful is but a symptom of enormous global inequality of opportunity.
Peter Slessenger
Reading, Berkshire
Don’t shut up and put up
David Mitchell hit the nail on the head when talking about the culture within the police to “shut up and do what you are told” (“The reluctant pope is a lesson in public service”, the New Review). I was an officer in the Met in the early 80s and left, eventually to become an airline pilot. The police could learn a lot from the way airlines – and subsequently the medical profession – have embraced crew resource management.
CRM is designed to maximise positive outcomes by using all the resources (human or otherwise) to the best advantage. Where there is a heavy “authority gradient” (eg aircraft captain and junior steward; consultant surgeon and junior nurse; chief superintendent and police constable), it is very difficult for the junior person to speak out and prevent errors and/or wrongdoing even when they can see it all going wrong.
CRM training teaches us how to create an open environment where more junior or inexperienced members of the team have their opinions actively sought out and considered, and how to create a work environment where it is acceptable to challenge the senior person without anyone worrying about ego etc. “It is not weakness to change your mind” is a mantra that it has taken aviation 50 years to embed within its culture. Perhaps the police could do with some CRM training as well.
Graeme Clark
Malvern, Worcestershire
The right sort of poverty
Kenan Malik, in his otherwise excellent article on diversity and inequality, assumes that the Victorians invented the notion of the “undeserving poor” (“Focusing on diversity means we miss the big picture. It’s class that shapes our lives”, Comment). Antonino Pierozzi (1389-1459), a Medici-bankrolled bishop of Florence, is the founding father. He established nine levels of misfortune, with poveri vergognosi at the top and heretics at the bottom. The former were respectable people who had fallen on hard times and were too ashamed to beg. They were most deserving of charity (to be given in secret) as they suffered twice over – from poverty, and from not being used to poverty.
James Hall
London SW12
Field day
It is not often that I think this of a politician, but when I read about Frank Field (“It’s a strange experience, taking so long to die”, the New Review), I found myself saying: “You lovely man.”
Dr Mark Stocker
Christchurch, New Zealand
