Finding solutions to the problems facing this government is by no means easy (Cover Story, 6 September). One wishes Keir Starmer well, but I cannot help feeling that it would help his cause if some of the rhetoric more closely reflected his actions. On the one hand, we have the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, touting the attractions of investing in Britain. Meanwhile back at home, rumours are rife about capital gains tax reform and the phasing out of “non-dom” tax status coupled with Starmer’s own continual, gloomy bleating about fiscal black holes and “things getting worse”. As a result, the value of shares in UK companies has gone down and one consultancy claims that 4,200 potential investors have already left the country this year. “Non-doms” can operate anywhere they feel is “tax-friendly”. No good will come from “popular” redistributive policies that ignore the need to expand the economy.
As we battle our way out of the black hole, we have also been assured by Starmer that “those with the broadest shoulders should bear the burden”, only to learn that in practice he believes that “just about managing” old-age pensioners possess broader shoulders than relatively well-paid train drivers. As you say in your well-balanced Leader (30 August), “the vulnerable must be protected”. Unless it adheres to this principle, Labour is nothing.
Geoff Brown, Walton-on-Thames
Fuming Farage
As Andrew Marr points out (Cover Story, 6 September), the new government should avoid gifting open goals to the opposition and its media supporters. The UK has an unaddressed productivity problem and a proposed four-day week isn’t going to help with that nor encourage business and investment. The proposed ban on smoking in beer gardens would also be a gift to Reform. Could Nigel Farage go on a nationwide tour of smoking in pub gardens? Would the police arrest him?
Aneurin Bevan spoke of socialism being the “language of priorities” and the job of reconstruction after 14 Conservative years is difficult enough without indulging in unnecessary and unpopular legislation.
Peter Sheal, Fyvie, Aberdeenshire
Ukrainian consequences
It is to the great credit of the New Statesman that it allowed two such opposing views on Ukraine to be published in its issue of 23 August. Brendan Simms says (Comment) that Britain must do everything it can to “empower” Ukraine to restore its 1991 frontiers; Wolfgang Münchau writes (Lateral View) that waning German and US support for “doing whatever it takes” to expel Russia from Ukraine will force a negotiated peace.
Simms – and those like him who want a Nato-empowered extension of the war into Russian territory – entirely ignore the possibility that, in response, the Russians will deploy more dangerous weapons of their own, in an escalation to the nuclear level. Why is a professor of international relations at Cambridge encouraging Ukraine to strike cruise missiles deep into Russia without taking into account the possibility and consequences of Russian retaliation?
Robert Skidelsky, House of Lords
Poverty creation
George Eaton (Politics, 23 August) nails the ineptitude displayed by Rachel Reeves in the winter fuel allowance fiasco. The haste, clumsiness and callousness it revealed bodes ill for further policymaking. If hitherto universal allowances are to be means-tested, a new, more impoverished class of people will be created just above the means-test level who will inevitably suffer, thus more people will choose to rely on the state, increasing the burden Reeves is trying to reduce. If she had gone for a tax clawback rather than the blunt instrument she has chosen, she may well have avoided the current disaster entirely.
Jill Chisholm, Clapham, London
Bog-standard beauty
Imagine, posits Guy Shrubsole (Another Voice, 6 September), what could be done if a community came to own a river, wood or peat bog. Three thousand feet above Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake, one grassroots movement is doing exactly that. Cumbria Wildlife Trust has just bought Skiddaw along with the surrounding 3,000 acres of mountain and moorland. It aims to rewild a “mosaic” of habitats “sheep-wrecked” (as George Monbiot has it) by upland farming. One component of the project is to re-establish Atlantic rainforests, though the 1,000 acres of peat bog will not be planted out. Instead, it will be rewetted by blocking drains to keep the peat saturated in order to absorb carbon dioxide rather than releasing it into the atmosphere as they dry out. Upland management reimagined.
Austen Lynch, Garstang, Lancashire
Soul food
Pippa Bailey (Reporter at Large, 6 September) writes that “pressure on the Church of England to ‘excite’ has never been greater”. There are always pressures on the Church to be relevant. But it is vital that it, and its leadership, realise it’s not excitement that people really desire. They crave connection to a transcendence that is both intimate and beyond them. They crave the sense of a love that meets them in the midst of confusion and darkness. They crave a space for contemplation and vision. There is a spiritual hunger out there. Too often the Church gets itself lost in the distraction of the world, as it seeks to be exciting, while forgetting to share the spiritual feast at its heart.
The Reverend Ben Brown, Lewes
Accepting illness
Tracey Thorn (Off the Record, 6 September) is both courageous and wise. As someone with a long-term health condition, I also dislike ideas of “fighting” my illness. Rather, I have come to accept it as part of my body, my self and my life. My family and friends have had to cope with really challenging times. Yes, we can be positive but also realistic, and at times we struggle. There are ups and downs, and it is OK to complain. An incurable health condition is a perpetual undertow and we have learned to swim with the waves. Thanks for your honesty Tracey.
The skilled and compassionate staff in Sheffield NHS Haematology service need more than thanks – more funding Wes?
Siân Lewis, Sheffield
The Lezard palate
While I enjoy Andrew Jefford’s new wine columns, do you think you could persuade Nicholas Lezard to produce a guide to Waitrose wines? His knowledge and expertise on the topic is evident in almost every column, and I for one would appreciate him sharing it with us all.
David Gibson, London E11
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This article appears in the 11 Sep 2024 issue of the New Statesman, The Iron Chancellor’s gamble