Letter of the week: England cannot save itself

I really enjoyed John Bew’s extended essay on the fall of Britain (CoversMarch 13). His diagnosis of our political and economic malaise is based on his comprehensive description of the historical context. I accept his conclusion that “the current social contract is unsustainable”, but fear for the future on three grounds. First, that this case should be made by politicians – not just once, but as a message delivered over and over again. One only has to think of the times when this has been done before – Chatham, Gladstone, Lloyd George, Churchill – to realize that no one is up to or inclined to pick up the torch. (This is a possibility, incidentally, that the two legacy parties are probably much better at dealing with than the insurgents.) Second, our political machinery is now so atrophied that the government is incapable of making changes of this magnitude. Third, even if – to adapt William Pitt’s phrase – England were to save herself, it is unlikely that she could now save Europe by her example, as our necessary friends and allies are attacked by the destructive populism of the left and the right.
Ted Morris, London E14

The next step

John Bew’s excellent essay is best read as an intellectual warning rather than a program for state renewal. His survey of past crises in Britain’s evolution is interesting and compelling, and his central claim, that the country is entering a new structural rupture, deserves serious attention.

Bew rightly identifies that challenges, from social welfare to defence, energy and borders, cannot be treated as isolated policy issues. They are interrelated matters of national power and therefore of grand strategy. However, the essay stops at this recognition. The crucial step beyond diagnosis – creating institutions and mechanisms capable of supporting strategic thinking and action – is unexplored.

Accomplishing a disruption on the scale implied in the essay would require both institutional reform and a change of mindset among our ruling elites. Grand strategy should not be episodic or improvised; it needs sustained implementation over time and institutions staffed by those capable of coordinating and adapting economic, technological and military power as a coherent, integrated and dynamic programme. Such characteristics are lacking in our political leaders, administrators and institutions, which seem mired in irresponsible, technocratic managerialism.

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The question for Britain is whether we have the energy and imagination to build the skills needed to generate a strategic plan, before the challenges of the fourth disruption overwhelm us.
Robert Ross, Sutton Veny, Wiltshire

Priced outside the game

An alarm clock Editor’s note this week (March 13), using my favorite sport, soccer, as a vehicle through which we can begin to explain the horror of change. I first saw my beloved Manchester United at Old Trafford 74 years ago. I watched the Charlton youngsters training in my local park. I choked back the tears of an 11-year-old when my heroes died in Munich. I stayed true and still stay, however the simple joy has been eliminated from football. I wallowed in this year’s desire and need for thrills, cappuccinos and strips. The crowds changed; the players no longer hope for the locals. The beneficiaries? Well, just like those who own our NHS, water companies, care homes… Be grateful, Tom, for the experience you had with your brother. It may yet awaken you and the rest of us to the rejection of the soulless exploitation of our joys and needs.
John Teller, Bristol

Healey’s moment

Ailbhe Rea’s interview with John Healey (of NS interview13 March) reinforced my view that he would make a good Labor leader. I remember reading in the national papers that he was being talked about as a “unity” candidate and found myself breathing a sigh of relief. He has both gravitas and a calming air. Right now, of course, his mind is being fully utilized as Secretary of Defense. But if the Labor Party is to fight the May election, his time may yet come.
Judith A Daniels, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

Notes on a small island

I bought on Friday New statesman and came across Katie Stallard’s column about a country I’d never heard of (World ViewMarch 13). By Saturday morning, millions of people had heard of Kharg Island. Thanks to Stallard, New statesman readers can tell people in bars and cafes around the country about the importance of Kharg Island.
Ivor Morgan, Lincoln

We need to talk about men

There is an important common thread between two articles from the last edition: Pippa Bailey’s column on pornography (Out of the ordinary) and Nicholas Harris’ review of Louis Theroux’s manosphere documentary (The New Societyboth March 13). If the issues raised are to have any chance of being effectively addressed, the question of how we raise adolescent boys will be central.

For a long time, we have claimed that the authority of adults can manage a process of sublimation from an innocent child to a mature adult. Of course, our experience should have warned us that this was nonsense. British society has been keen towards a more responsible approach to how young people learn about sex and relationships. Now we need a step change. Without it, our concerns about pornography and the “manosphere” are little more than hand-wringing, and our solutions are only censorship.
Dr Richard Crombie, Carnforth, Lancashire

A noise complaint

I was fascinated by Kate Mossman’s thoughts on Alice Coltrane (The New SocietyMarch 13). After John’s death, Alice agreed to talk to me about her late husband for a documentary I was making about his life. She followed up that meeting with an invitation to attend a service at the John Coltrane Church in San Francisco, which she had founded. It combined conservative religious ritual with a liturgy that included music and lyrics from John’s 1965 free-jazz masterpiece. A Higher Loverecorded two years before his death. It features the incomparable quartet: Coltrane (saxophone), McCoy Tyner (piano), Elvin Jones (drums) and Jimmy Garrison (bass). It would be harsh to blame Alice for John’s late move into extreme spirituality and musical abstraction, but this was clearly not to McCoy Tyner’s taste. After Alice took over as pianist, he said, “All I could hear was a lot of noise.”
David Perry, Cambridge

Don’t follow the leaders…

The prospect of someone from Reform UK having access to my bedroom, as Rachel Cunliffe suggests (Future PerfectMarch 13), fills me with dread. As Bob Dylan wrote, “You don’t need to be a motologist to know which way the wind blows.” My thinking about relationships was influenced by the eloquence and simplicity with which Joni Mitchell sang about what happens between men and women: “We don’t need a piece of paper from town hall to keep us connected and real.”
Bright, Exeter, Devon

Crafty observation project

I can join the storm of praise for New statesman writers saying in a word about Anoosh Chakelian. Her keen observational reporting has revived the ethos of the long-lost The New Society magazine.
David Griffiths, Huddersfield

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(Further reading: The EU will not save Rachel Reeves)