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Letters

Letters to the Editor

Wednesday, 17th October 2007

For Murray, Western values are epitomised by Thomas Jefferson’s concept of being ‘free... to pursue happiness’. Jefferson’s pursuit of happiness included enslaving his own illegitimate children by his black mistress.

The rights culture began with Rousseau (the philosopher who abandoned his children at a public orphanage) as a way of replacing God with the state.

Edmund Burke remarked: ‘Against these their rights of men let no government look for security in the length of its continuance, or in the justice and lenity of its administration. The objections of these speculatists, if its forms do not quadrate with their theories, are as valid against such an old and beneficent government as against the most violent tyranny or the greenest usurpation.’

In America, rights were trumpeted the loudest by those in favour of slavery, even up to the end of the Civil War. Karl Marx eagerly embraced much of Rousseau’s thinking and Lenin based the Soviet constitution on the rights of men.

Julian Brazier
London SW1

So misread

Sir: Richard Bolchover, in his letter criticising my review of The Israel Lobby (13 October), makes a common mistake: he conflates the authors’ views with mine. I did not attack Israel’s expulsion of Arabs in 1948. What I said was this: ‘In fact, they [the authors] contend that by doing little more than expressing mild regret at Israel’s expulsion of most of its Palestinian population and obstructing thereafter the establishment of a Palestinian state, the US has provoked the anger of even those Middle Eastern states, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which are normally its friends.’

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Bryan Stokes

March 11th, 2008 5:03am

Paul Johnson's 'Ten Perfect Poems ...' (1March, '08, page 25) is a very stimulating contribution to modern literature. What weekly magazine, apart from yours and perhaps the Atlantic Monthly, would devote so much space and money to such a frivilous essay? I appreciate that,as Mr Johnson states, every selection of short English poems is subjective & personal, but how eclectic and idiosycratic of him to choose thus. It speaks volumes for both his formal and subsequent self-education. I'd never heard of Francis Thompson and so thoroughly enjoyed 'At Lords' once I'd googled it and printed it off, as I did all those mentioned and selected, thanks to the marvels of the internet. Mr. Johnson surely is a true polymath along with James & Rushdie. Here in Perth West Australia, at the antipodes, we feel a little cut off from London's literary life, but thanks to the Johnsons and your other fine columnists (especially 'Ancient & Modern's Peter James) civilization seems a little closer, remebering Singapore & Sydney are 4 hours away by plane. I thoroughly enjoy your magazine (Joan Collins' Oscar notes were amusing as was Rod Liddle's take on Boris' mayoral antics. Thanks for everything - a real joy!

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.