It is surprising that Andrew Marr (The NS Essay, 23 January) doesn’t mention an alternative to building our own accommodation with the EU. Membership of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – if they would have us – would, via the European Economic Area (EEA), take us into the single market. We would have to accept free movement of people but that is likely to be demanded in any agreement. Rather than the fun, time and expense of building a bespoke solution (which might well not work), should we not pursue a proven solution? If EFTA/EEA is good enough for Norway, it ought to be good enough for us. A new idea – pragmatism?
We would have been close to that with Theresa May’s ten-point “new deal” proposals in 2019 but they were thwarted by Keir Starmer’s naked politicking. What you sow…
Michael Ollerenshaw, Altrincham, Trafford
Feel the Burnham
The bar on Andy Burnham’s potential return to Westminster risks a Labour civil war that the party can ill afford. Yet, it also presents a rare opportunity for the government to generate momentum for its long-promised parliamentary reform.
The legislation that bars mayors who hold police and crime commissioner powers from sitting in the House of Commons is broadly in line with continental neighbours such as France and Germany. Yet Belgium and Switzerland encourage local leaders to combine national and local mandates, on the logic that diverse governing experience improves the quality of parliamentary debate. The key question for the Prime Minister, then, is not confined to his handling of Burnham’s candidacy, but whether he has the ambition to build a political system that strengthens national decision-making by welcoming – rather than excluding – some of the country’s most experienced political leaders.
John Aspinwall, Heidelberg, Germany
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The distant drums
What a drama: it’s one man’s ambition against the chance of two lost elections for Labour. In these times it’s common sense to let Andy Burnham keep his day job, at which he is excellent, against the possibility that he would eventually make a right hash of being a prime minister.
When you become PM, you are on your own and in the limelight. There are many others who think they can do a better job and it becomes a media show. So let Starmer get on with the day job. If we look closely, we see he is doing not so badly.
Derrick Anstee, Norwich
Can the circle be unbroken?
John Gray (The Big Picture, 23 January) quotes Machiavelli in considering current international politics – regimes rise and fall in unending cycles. Gray’s implication is that change will happen and politics and nations must accept that and adjust. But the elephant in the room is climate change. Its potential for unpredictable conflict around resources and major population migration makes future uncertainty much more problematic.
Duncan MacIntyre, Eaglesham, Glasgow
Reagan berated
Peter Pringle (From the Archive, 23 January) said that the short notice given to Margaret Thatcher by the US of the 1983 invasion of Grenada was seen as a “significant snub”. The Iron Lady might have described it in stronger terms: I have read an account of her phoning Reagan to protest about it while he was chairing a cabinet meeting in the White House. The president then held the phone towards his cabinet, smiling at the clamant reproach coming from it and whispering, “Isn’t she great?”
Tom Stubbs, Surbiton
Pint-sized knowledge
Tom McTague’s “Editor’s Note” (23 January) was entertaining and perceptive but might have inadvertently emphasised one of the government’s dilemmas.
The editor relates that he “sat with a senior figure in the government” and listened to “one influential government adviser”. We might expect this, but perhaps McTague could share comments from his local pub and how these shape his thinking?
The NS and the government need to continue to listen to the widest range of different radical ideas – inside and out of the capital. Beer and Sandwiches is not just for Westminster, as the excellent new column highlights.
Iain Jones, Tysoe, Warwickshire
Grave humour
There is an old Yorkshire joke about a missing “e” (Editor’s Note, 23 January). A gravestone inscription was requested to be “Lord, she is thine”. Unfortunately the mason inscribed “Lord, she is thin”. The exasperated relatives told him that he had left off the “e” and the mason agreed immediately to fix it. The revised inscription read “e Lord, she is thin”.
Jonathan French, York
Flaming furrows
Will Lloyd’s enjoyable piece on the burning of the Whittlesey straw bear (This England, 23 January) was marred by just one error: the ceremony marks the beginning of plough season, not the end. I wonder if the ceremony inspired Julia Donaldson’s Scarecrows’ Wedding, which also features a fire? Its BBC One outing on Christmas Day burns brightly in the memory.
Andrew Meredith, editor of “Farmers Weekly”
The joy of reading
I have been a reader of the NS for around 60 years and I want to thank you for the changes that you have made. Instead of feeling at times that it was my duty to read all or most of the magazine, it is now a positive joy. Thank you for employing such great writers, especially Will Dunn, Finn McRedmond and Nicholas Lezard. And your Editor’s Note always provokes thought – unlike the tedious recitals of “What’s in this issue” to be found elsewhere. Talking of which – the welcome new Beer and Sandwiches is not listed on the contents page. An attempt to keep the pubs from being overrun?
Ian Wilson, Ditton, Surrey
A hole lotta wisdom
Caitlín Doherty’s article on David Lynch (The New Society, 16 January) was as pleasant as a slice of cherry pie. However, it contains an error I feel obliged to point out. The piece describes the evocative – and other words beginning with the letter “e” – music video for “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak. A damn fine video, but one directed by Herb Ritts. Lynch’s perfectly serviceable version consists of a band performance intercut with scenes from the film Wild at Heart. But, as the great man said, “Keep your eye on the doughnut, not the hole.”
Sam Hunt, London
Time to press paws
Nicholas Harris’s claws-out polemic against David Baddiel’s catfluencing is superb (The New Society, 23 January). Baddiel seems increasingly to resemble TS Eliot’s “Gus: the Theatre Cat”: “‘I have played,’ so he says, ‘every possible part,/And I used to know 70 speeches by heart./ I’d extemporise back-chat, I knew how to gag,/And I knew how to let the cat out of the bag.’” Press pause, without thought.
Xavi Mesquita, Edinburgh
First draft
The transformation from current affairs reportage to a still-serious weekly with an enduring interest in pubs can be considered complete when Andrew Marr begins his column with a piece on pub names (At Large, 23 January). I look forward to the return of Beer and Sandwiches as an essential part of the relationship between Labour and the unions – as practised during the first Wilson government, when a pint cost less than two bob, and crushed avocado hadn’t been invented.
Les Bright, Exeter, Devon
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[Further reading: Britain’s housebuilding crisis on my block]