Letters

Letters

Readers respond to recent articles in The Spectator

The US needs the UK

Sir: David Howell is certainly correct (Letters, 1 December) in pointing to the massive shift of wealth to Asia and oil producers, a development to which I have repeatedly called attention in my columns for the Sunday Times, most recently this past week. But that, so far, has little to do with my contention that the maintenance of world order remains the responsibility of the United States, a responsibility that can best be discharged with Britain at its side. Yes, Britain should pursue other relationships that a changing world makes useful to it. But Gordon Brown’s deliberate snubbing of the United States when he met with President Bush in Washington, and his decision to stick a finger in America’s eye by appointing Mark Malloch Brown, have led to the virtual cessation of political contacts between the UK and the US. Whatever is going on in the world of finance, that undermining of the special relationship surely furthers neither British nor American interests. Worse still, it is adding to pressures on America to lay down its heavy burdens, and retreat from a world in which it is the one power without which little progress can be made on issues ranging from global warming to the fight against international terrorism.

Irwin Stelzer
London WC2

A church, not a cult

Sir: Individuals may disagree with the policies pursued by Tony Blair in office but all the Roman Catholic Church asks is that he acted on the basis of an informed conscience (‘Will Blair become a true Catholic?’, 1 December). If Fraser Nelson’s sources had their way, the church would cease to be Catholic â” open and inclusive of all â” and instead become a fundamentalist religious sect which denied individuals the right to follow an informed conscience, a right consistently taught by the church. Christ didn’t have much to say about the issues Fraser Nelson says are so troubling to his sources but he did condemn forthrightly the judging of others.

Tony Blair isn’t perfect â” but then again, if he chooses to join the church, he will be part of a community of sinners and will no doubt be welcomed by millions of people who believe in an open and tolerant church, not a cult for the self-righteous.

Mike Craven
London SW3

Sir: Over the last millennium, the Catholic Church has changed what it ‘believes, teaches and proclaims’ about: priestly marriage, usury, a flat earth, geocentrism, a vernacular Bible, sale of indulgences, the death penalty, canonisation of heretics, fish on Friday, Jewish blame for the crucifixion, limbo, and (de facto) contraception. Surely it is not too ‘breathtakingly presumptuous’ of Cherie Blair to expect change on a few more issues?

Dr Robert Johnston
Northampton

Full circle
Sir: Miranda Sawyer should not have included The Sound of Music in her list of ‘films turned into live shows’ (Diary, 24 November). It was, of course, the other way round: a live show turned into a film. The Sound of Music, the last Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, opened on Broadway in 1959 and ran for thousands of performances in both New York and London before eventually becoming a film in 1965.

The film was hugely successful, but still no more than what Halliwell’s Film Guide has called a ‘slightly muted, very handsome version of an enjoyably old-fashioned stage musical with splendid tunes’.

Alexander Chancellor
Towcester, Northamptonshire

Larry’s Freudian kiss

Sir: Lloyd Evans is incorrect in stating that Olivier played Othello twice (Arts, 1 December). In the 1938 production at the Old Vic, Olivier played Iago and Ralph Richardson played Othello. Olivier and the director, Tyrone Guthrie, were influenced by a Freudian interpretation that identified Iago as being subconsciously in love with the Moor. They kept this interpretation from Richardson, knowing that he would be uncomfortable with it, until one day in rehearsal Olivier planted a kiss full on the lips of his startled friend. Richardson did not walk out: he merely patted Olivier on the head and muttered, ‘There, there now, dear fellow!’

When Olivier eventually got to play Othello at the National Theatre in 1964, the role of Iago was given to the no-nonsense Lancastrian actor, Frank Finlay, and there was no suggestion of Freud!

Peter Morris
Hove, East Sussex

Despair, but also hope

Sir: Paul Johnson need not be so terrified by what he finds written in Matthew xxvii 46 (And another thing, 1 December). Jesus’ reported last words on the cross are quoted from Psalm 22. Yes, these words do reflect despair, but the reader will note that, as the Psalmist continues, there is a sense of hope and redemption. As a scholar of the Hebrew Bible, it is not improbable that Jesus was merely quoting a text appropriate to his situation, though presumably was overcome before being able to quote more (see E.P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus). An alternative view would be that Matthew’s gospel is littered with references to the Hebrew Bible, the author wishing as he did to present Jesus as the fulfilment of its prophecies relating to ‘The Messiah’, and that this is simply the author placing words in his subject’s mouth. A.N. Wilson’s excellent biography of Jesus (1993) is also worth consulting for a grounded assessment of the life and motivations of the ‘Jesus of history’ (rather than the ‘Christ of faith’).

Michael Stone
Blandford Forum, Dorset

Money mad

Sir: What a funny and insightful piece by Andrey Slivka on the effects of mass consumption on Ukraine (‘Money culture is ruining Kiev’, 1 December) Perhaps now he could be persuaded to write about how money worship is ruining Britain and America as well.

Sidney Graham
Newcastle-under-Lyme