Letters

20 June 2009

Spectator readers respond to recent articles

Smoke and mirrors

Sir: Gordon Brown seeks to obfuscate the fact that the public finances are in a terminal mess and that cuts in public expenditure are an inevitability. If his misleading statements were to be issued in a financial prospectus, he would face prosecution by the Financial Services Authority for grossly misleading the public. As Brown juggles with his smoke and mirrors figures, he would do well to recall Blake: ‘A truth that’s told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent.’

Tom Benyon
Oxford

Lieutenant Paul Mervis
(1981-2009)

Paul Mervis arrived at The Spectator for a fortnight of work experience in the spring of 2005 and we missed him when he left. He was passionate about foreign affairs and spent hours discussing Iraq and Iran. He was also great fun and perhaps the only work-experience student to have a piece (on Iran) published in the magazine during his time. In 2007 Lt Mervis was one of the first officers commissioned into the newly formed Rifles. Last Friday he was killed in an explosion in Helmand province, Afghanistan. By all accounts, Paul was a remarkable soldier: ‘One in a trillion,’ said his commanding officer. Perhaps the most significant tributes came from his men: ‘In all my 20 years in the army,’ said one, ‘I have never met, nor am likely to meet, an officer who cared so much about his men.’ We’re proud that Paul was, for a short time, part of The Spectator. Our thoughts are with his family and the soldiers of 10 Platoon.