Thursday 4 December 2008

 

The latest culture as recommended by our staff

Michael Henderson

Michael Henderson suggests


Letters

Wednesday, 7th May 2008

Spectator readers respond to recent articles



Leonard Allen
King’s Lynn, Norfolk


Good call

Sir: Matthew Parris should not be too hard on cold-callers (Another Voice, 26 April). Last January I received an unsolicited phone call from a very nicely spoken (and very persuasive) young man named William. ‘Can I interest you in a six-month subscription to The Spectator?’ he said. I was won over by his charm and have thus enjoyed months of excellent articles; especially those of Matthew Parris.

David Lydamore
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex

Unfair dismissal

Sir: I was surprised by P.J. Kavanagh’s review of my Isaac Rosenberg: the Making of a Great War Poet (Books, 3 May). Having happily followed my interpretation of his life, he rather suddenly dismisses Rosenberg as a poet, citing Geoffrey Grigson as his authority. Personally I should hesitate to disagree with two such eminent poets, but T.S. Eliot, arguably the 20th century’s greatest poet as well as a perceptive critic, thought Rosenberg the ‘most remarkable’ of the war poets. Another highly respected critic, F.R. Leavis, went even further, finding Rosenberg ‘as remarkable as Wilfred Owen but even more interesting technically’. Leavis identified ‘genius’ in Rosenberg, as did Siegfried Sassoon.

Jean Moorcroft Wilson
London NW1

More articles from: | this section

Subscribe now

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

Comments

Post a comment


Your comment:*

Your name:*

Your email address:*
(We won't publish this)

*Required information

Please click the button only once - your comment will not be published immediately

Paul

May 8th, 2008 4:22pm

Chris Doyle ends his letter with a paragraph beginning "If Israel is around in 60 years’ time...". Is there any other country for which such speculation would be par for the course?

Simon Icke

May 11th, 2008 5:54pm

NEW Labour is paying the price for completely neglecting the working classes, who are struggling to make ends meet with high taxes, both direct and indirect. It will pay the price at the next General Election.

New Labour have sucked up to the Islington trendy liberal academics' who wouldn't know a working class person if they fell over them. (If they did meet one they would probably feel superior and smug like so many New Labour middle class trendies). They certainly wouldn't know the reality of the struggle these poor families now have to endure. Who now, cannot even afford to fill their car with petrol not to mention pay their gas and electric bill! Meanwhile New Labour cronies continue to feed their fat stomachs in the trough of self-indulgence and arrogance. And continue to listen to the academic liberal rich middle class guardianist writers who have contributed to New Labour's demise.

The bottom line is New Labour has lost touch with its roots and continues to live in its trendy London gold fish bowl' like it has done so for the last 11 years.

So it gets what it deserves

Drummond Gaskarth

May 14th, 2008 1:42pm

re Roger Alton on Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Where might Marco Fu be today emulating O'Sullivan's press conference technique? Certainly not waiting on our Snooker Authorities' hand-wringing.

Simon Icke

July 9th, 2008 2:37pm

Parliamentary Debate

Dear Sir,

May I be allowed the following observations on two recent matters before Parliament? Firstly, on human/animal hybrid experimentation, there is not a shred of evidence that such experiments will help one single person suffering from a degenerative disease. It seems the end by which they justify the means rests on a massive ' if ' !
Surely this is a false, emotive reason to experiment with nature and justify playing God. It is rather arrogant that so many naive politicians cry ' just think of the millions it might help' when, in truth, it is likely to help no one. But the truth doesn't sound so good or win popularity.
Secondly, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is a measure of how far our nation has fallen-- the sanctity of human life no longer has much value with many ' trendy liberal minded MPs'. Listening to some of them speak in the House of Commons at the second reading of the Abortion debate was truly sickening.
As a nation we are only as civilised as our treatment of the most vulnerable amongst us. No one is more vulnerable and less valued in our society than the unborn human child. Have we become so selfish, so callous that we just don't care anymore? Over 97% of the 200,000 plus abortions carried out every year in the UK is for social reasons only. How very sad.
It's about time the public were made aware of the reality of what happens in our abortion clinics every day, rather than continuing the to believe the myths and misinformation fed to them by pro-abortion lobbyists.
They often have a vested interest in the continuing success of this vile industry, which spends hundreds of thousands of pounds lobbying MPs to protect its interests------all under the guise of women's rights, which it seems no MP dares to question (Well it's not PC is it?).
Next time you meet a child from a poor neighbourhood, a physically or mentally disabled person, someone who has had corrective surgery for a cleft palate or club foot, or even a woman from an ethnic minority where males are more valued than females ---- ask them a simple question. Are you glad to be alive or do you wish your mother had exercised her right to choose to abort you?

Simon Icke, Political Writer & Poet.


The Spectator Parliamentarian Awards
Spectator Book Club
The Spectator Billabong

In this section

Brown bets the farm

The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Pre-Budget Report (PBR) was one of the most arresting political events of modern times.

Diary

Hardeep Singh Kohli

Social networking: surely that has to be a tautology?

Diary of a Notting Hill Nobody

Tamzin Lightwater

Tamzin Lightwater's unique take on the week

The Spectator's Notes

Charles Moore

In his speech announcing his Pre-Budget Report, Alistair Darling said that he was going to put up the top rate of income tax to 45 per cent from 2011, because he wanted the burden to be borne by ‘those who have done best out of the growth of the past decade’.

Mind your Language

Dot Wordsworth

‘What?’ said my husband, coherently, thrashing with his stick at a blackboard on the pavement. It said: ‘Quarter chicken with two regular sides, £5.90.’ This was no geometrical chicken.

Related articles

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.

Letters

Spectator readers respond to recent articles

The Spectator's Notes

Charles Moore

Charles Moore's reflections on the week

Letters

Spectator readers respond to recent articles

The Spectator's Notes

Charles Moore

Charles Moore's reflections on the week

Spectator recommends

Free Sky Digital Offer - Order Now

Subscribe to Sky from £16 a month. Get free equipment and free broadband - Join Now. Sky HD - be...


Spectator classifieds

ROME CENTRE

PORTA METRONIA, ROME Standing high on the top of one of the seven hills of Rome- the Coelian- this unique

City Breaks. ROME and PARIS

ROME and PARIS: over 350 holiday rentals apartments listed: visit  www.romanreference.com  and  www.parisreference.com or call +39 0648 903612.

Jewellery. RUFFS (Estd. 1904).

Goldsmiths by Design Welcome to Ruffs!  You have found a company of Goldsmiths that specialises in the manufacture, amongst other