RSS

Contact us

Saturday 30 August 2008

Letters

Letters

Readers respond to recent articles in The Spectator

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’.

More articles from: | this section

Print this article  |  Email to a friend  |  Permalink  |   Comment

Post this entry to:   del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Advertisement

Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine

Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms

Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP

All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved