Enough Brussels
Sir: Owen Paterson (‘Dave’s big push’,
10 December) is absolutely right to suggest that we should use the EU summit to renegotiate our relationship with Europe. The Prime Minister’s wielding of the veto offers real scope for change. He must now be bold enough to seize the moment. This fundamental renegotiation of our relationship needs to be based on free trade, competitiveness and growth, and not on political union and dead-weight regulation. This is not some grand utopian vision — it exists today. Switzerland in particular has an excellent relationship with the EU, enjoys easy access to its markets without burdensome regulation, and prospers as a result.
Such a relationship would reflect the fact that the British electorate in 1975 voted for a free-trade area and not a political union. It would recognise that people are fed up with mindless interference from the EU; that our businesses, especially the smaller ones, are fed up with the endless EU regulations which hamper their competitiveness; and that taxpayers are fed up with the costs of EU membership — some £40 billion over the next seven years. It would also reflect the fact that the Conservative party is increasingly fed up of promises to ‘rein in the EU’, only for yet more sovereignty to be parcelled off to Brussels.
John Baron MP
House of Commons, London SW1
Where are our allies?
Sir: So the Spectator believes the Prime Minister is in a position of ‘great strength’ in Europe (‘Leadership, please’, 10 December). If so, where are his allies? Most of the ten euro ‘outs’ want to be ‘ins’, and the new Prime Minister of Denmark, the only other country that has a legal opt-out from the single currency, says it will be in her country’s interests to join eventually.
Any influence Cameron might have had was completely squandered when he pulled the Conservative party out of the mainstream centre-right group in Europe to help him secure the leadership of his party — a piece of short-term opportunism he must now bitterly regret.
The Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP
House of Commons, London SW1
The dumb bulldog
Sir: It was suggested that David Cameron invoke the ‘Bulldog Spirit’ in the national interest. This has set me, and I suspect other dog lovers, thinking. The bulldog is most noteworthy for its respiratory challenges and short life expectancy. He may be lovable, but the bulldog is essentially thick, sitting just two places from the very bottom of Stanley Coren’s dog intelligence rankings. One is left to wonder whether our Prime Minister and his team have been outwitted? Surely in difficult times such as these the UK should invoke the spirit of the hardworking collie — No. 1 in the dog intelligence rankings.
Brendan Sadka
Wales
Flat tax backing
Sir: Steve Forbes (‘The trick Osborne missed’, 3 December) is right to point out the damage done to the UK economy by high taxation. The Centre for Economic and Business Research’s recent study of the impact of the 50 per cent top tax showed how the international market for top skills has become more competitive, while companies have become increasingly mobile. So much so that far from raising revenue, if the tax rate remains at 50p, it will cost the economy £1 billion a year or more within five years.
Cutting top taxes not only boosts economic growth but adds to revenues within a remarkably short time. Keeping the top rate high is a dangerously costly political gesture for a government which should be doing all it can to boost growth.
Douglas McWilliams
Chief Executive, CEBR, London EC1
Sir: Six countries in the EU have flat rate taxes — all six have forecast and actual growth well above the EU averages. This alone means that Steve Forbes advocating a flat-rate tax does not make him a Flat Earther! It’s also no accident that the tax rates in the flat rate countries are well below European averages — showing that politicians find it harder to increase taxes, as the usual stealthy measures to raise revenue from an unwilling electorate are simply unavailable.
Our bloated, near-incomprehensible tax code desperately needs simplifying — too much intellectual capital is wasted drafting, enforcing and abusing that complexity.
Can we get Steve Forbes to run for office again?
Jon Moulton
Better Capital LLP, London WC2
Whiggish interpretation
Sir: David Lindsay (Letters, 10 December) overstretched his imagination. I set out in my review (Books, 3 December) that radical Whigs extolled the virtues of free trade, competition and individualism. Mr Lindsay responded by implying that Liberal defectors to the Conservatives have shared these principles for over 100 years. They have not. The Liberal Unionists, guided by Joseph Chamberlain, rejected free trade by embracing tariff reform in 1903; 29 years later the Liberal Nationals abandoned free trade by also supporting the Conservatives at the Ottawa Conference, where it was agreed to introduce a series of tariff measures.
Richard Ryder
London
Beyond our Ken
Sir: What is it about the manner of Boris Johnson’s success that makes Andrew Gimson think Ken Livingstone (‘The rival’, 10 December) should emphasise his buttoned-up, respectable side?
Peter J. Waring
Manchester
Americans in Paris
Sir: Your reviewer of David McCullough’s captivating account of Americans in Paris in the 19th century (Books, 3 December) faults the author for offering no explanation of why he chose to concentrate on the period 1830-1900. I should think that would be obvious: to me, the best thing about the book is that it is not about the ‘Lost Generation’ of the 1920s. Far too much has already been written about posturing Hemingway, insecure Fitzgerald, and crazy Zelda. Instead, McCullough has given us little-known accounts of far more admirable people, such as the American ambassador Elihu Washburne, who stayed on during the Franco-Prussian War and turned out descriptions of the siege and famine he witnessed far superior to anything today’s ‘embedded’ media darlings are capable of writing. McCullough’s choice of so much fresh material is to be commended. Who knew that James Fenimore Cooper, of all people, abandoned his moccasin footpaths for the boulevards?
Florence King
Virginia, USA
Failing enterprise
Sir: Are British enterprises really trying? Needing a new car, I recently contacted three leading dealers. No. 1 sent the wrong specifications; then failed to send a price list; No. 2 had no brochures available; No. 3 (one of the last surviving British manufacturers) did not answer my call. Are their order books so glutted?
Nevertheless, I wish a prosperous New Year to all — except maybe to those publishers so affluent that they can afford to fill their plush bookcases with ‘acclaimed’ tomes, then somehow omit to go out and sell them.
Sir Alistair Horne
Turville, Oxon
Uneasy riders
Sir: I love riding my bike around London but agree with Charlie Taylor’s points about the unfriendliness of other cyclists (Diary, 3 December). I would, however, advise him to avoid speaking to people in Lycra altogether, as they generally take themselves rather seriously. He should instead speak to people on Bromptons. People don’t ride them to look cool, but rather for their practicality. Further to this, if the Brompton isn’t standard colour (black or red) then you have an immediate talking point as they will have chosen the colour themselves. Next time you see the yellow hoodie and British racing-green Brompton combo on the Kings Road, rest assured that I’m always happy to chat.
Andrew Stibbard
Putney
A season for thrift
Sir: Inform your godchildren during Advent that, as their spiritual guardian, you have decided against giving them anything so corrupting and decadent as a paid-for Christmas present. Offer instead advice on frugality and temperance in these troubled times. As a consolation, you can tell them that they needn’t thank you.
Hugo Sabin
London W2
Sir: The National Gallery opens on the Tuesday after Christmas, and that’s the time to get cards for next year, cut price of course. They do a good line in ‘religious’ subjects. At the same time you can visit the most marvellous works of art without paying a penny, while others are queuing for Leonardo. They hardly looked at ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ all those years that it was on show for nothing. Try Botticelli’s ‘Mystic Nativity’ now, if you’re in the mood. Or if you live far away, another free gallery can serve the same purpose, while you turn down the heating at home during the outing.
Christopher Howse
London SW1
Sir: Get rid of your iPad and iPhone and cancel your broadband. If possible sell the gadgets cheaply abroad. This will not only save you money but, at one stroke, will enable you to put in a full day’s work, free from the endless inane exchanges on Twitter and facebook, and it will hopefully also ruin the market for these toys abroad. An end to the 24/7 worship of self will bring a chastening frisson into your lives in the New Year.
P.J. Henham
Alicante
Sir: Turn off your television! Christmas TV is, as we all know, nothing but consumerist propaganda. Our senses are bombarded by advertisement after advertisement. They brainwash us so that we spend more and more money at Christmas. Save some cash by unplugging your set. You can tune in again on boxing day to catch the January sales promotions.
Jonathan Crouch
Kent
Sir: Secondhand/charity/vintage shops have plenty of treasures. Put time and effort into the packaging and theme them with other items for maximum effect. This may sound a bit homespun and worthy, but if you go regularly to these shops, you will soon find them addictive and good sources of presents. It’s more fun than traipsing around crowded department stores. Plus, there is always the thrill of finding something unexpected, or even antique if you are lucky. Good luck!
Joan Fox
Edinburgh
Sir: Some three years ago now, my daughter-in-law suggested, for ethical not economic reasons, that we celebrate Christmas with ‘one present per person’, and all the adults in the family agreed. This not only makes sense economically — it makes the one present received more appreciated and significant, and it also saves a lot of clearing up of wrapping paper afterwards.
D. Beriger
Berne, Switzerland
Sir: The most economical way to spend Christmas is on a remote lighthouse with some good audio books (borrowed, of course, from the library).
John O’Byrne
Dublin
Sir: Economise at Christmas? Convert to Islam.
Mike Gross
North Devon
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