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Letters

Wednesday, 1st October 2008

Spectator readers respond to recent articles

The Church is culpable too

Sir: Will Rowan Williams start his call for ‘fresh scrutiny and regulation in the financial world’ (‘Face it: Marx was partly right about capitalism’, 27 September) by glancing at the institution he heads? I am told that the 2007 Church of England target for its investment arm was 6 per cent above Bank of England base rate. It should have been clear to the Archbishop that this could not be achieved without the Church getting involved in the murky world of City finance.

The Church of England was made to look even more ridiculous when the Archbishop of York called short-sellers ‘bank robbers and asset strippers’. Are these people not just parasites making good out of an overpriced economy which all, including the Church of England, have enjoyed for the past 15 years?

If Christianity teaches us one thing it is that none is without sin. The far-reaching consequences of the global stock-market crash has brought this into sharp focus. The majority have enjoyed the good times and therefore the majority must be culpable. For the Church to see itself as an institution which is not part of the problem, when it clearly is, smacks of the same self-worth which got Pelagius into such trouble.

Stephen Rand
London SW15

Sir: The trouble with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s public moral stands is that they are exclusively directed against right-wing policies. In the left-liberal milieu that he inhabits, these stands require no moral courage at all. But he never addresses the many social and political evils that have emanated from left-wing ideology — something that would call for real moral courage on his part. This is the main reason why he so conspicuously lacks what religious leaders must have if they are to command respect: spiritual authority.

Clive Christie
Maesglas, Wales

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Peter Coghill

October 2nd, 2008 11:08am

Looney Left
Type Looney Left in the youtube.com search engine and you'll get a repeat of the American news programme, 60 minutes from the 1980's when Baron Kinnock was in opposition to Lady Thatcher's government.Eight out of ten London borough councils were Marxist.The programme shows a borough councillor advising a parents and teachers meeting what books to take off the library shelves of their primary school.The pettiness and paranoia of those present was very disturbing to watch.It was decided a story book about a young girl taming a black horse had to go. The American reporter present queried the decision and was told, "Why not a white horse?"

60 minutes is widely known for its balanced neutrality. The programme showed plainly how the reasonable concerns of the high migrant population had been managed by the extreme left and had added a strong Marxist message, from school to workplace.Issues of gender, race and religion were explained in Marxist terms by borough councillors.

Let's Fsce It: Marx Was Partially Right (Spectator 14 Sept.2008) by The Archbishop Of Canterbury, Rowan Williams reads as if His Grace was present at the book banning meeting of the parents and teachers in the 60 minutes programme. In his explanation of the recent financial crisis he mentions Trollope, goes into depth on past and present economic theory and in the final paragraph mentions Marxist theory.

The Archbishop used no direct quotes from the Bible, even though there are ample clear,instructive passages warning against greed. He finishes with an agonisingly intellectual statement,
"...ascribing independent reality to what you have in fact made yourself is a perfect definition of what Jewish and Christian Scriptures call idolatry." Absolutely, Your Grace.

A child of our time

From the economic and psychological bedlam of the global downturn has emerged a particularly dangerous false dichotomy: namely, that there is somehow a choice for ministers over the next few years between economic reconstruction and the repair of Britain’s broken society, and that the government (whether Labour or Conservative) must prioritise the former at the expense of the latter.

Diary

Anne Robinson

The daughter and I spent the last few days before the American election in Arizona.

Politics

Fraser Nelson

Fraser Nelson reviews the week in politics

The Spectator's Notes

Charles Moore

‘A money-financed tax cut is essentially equivalent to Milton Friedman’s famous “helicopter drop” of money.’ So said Ben Bernanke, now the chairman of the Fed, in a speech about how to ward off the ‘extremely small’ chance of deflation, which he delivered in 2002.