Letters: Boris Johnson might be the leader we need

The leader we need?

Sir: Matthew Parris excoriates Boris Johnson for administrative incompetence, mendacity, personal immorality and utter lack of political vision (‘I told you so’, 11 June). Mr Johnson may have multiple personal failings, but surely it is obvious that we live in times which call not for a leader with lofty political vision, but for one who can react instinctively and reasonably competently to exogenous events.

Johnson’s refusal to be battered down by successive crises, his cocksure ebullience, and his ability to turn patent negatives into positives clearly irritate his former journalistic colleagues – and infuriate his political opponents. But is it possible that these features of the Prime Minister’s character may be just what is needed to give the country a fighting chance of dodging the many bullets coming its way?

Jeff Green

Bath

Selling themselves

Sir: I was impressed by Lionel Shriver’s article ‘Does advertising matter?’ (11 June). My only quibble is that it is not really the advertisers who are to blame. At senior level, most businesses have no sense of the feelings of consumers. For that they rely on their advisers, notably their advertising agents. As I think Rory Sutherland will confirm, the most influential figures in advertising agencies are the ‘creatives’. These are mostly in their twenties and consistently on the leading edge of ‘woke-ism’. Their mission (with some honourable exceptions) is not to ‘peddle the product’. It is to win the approval of their peers, for that way lies industry awards and professional advancement. The result can be seen in any commercial break. Unfortunately advertising does matter.

Michael Chapman

Vice chairman, Ogilvy UK, 1980-1992

Obstacles to travel

Sir: I wholeheartedly agreed that the airline industry got it very wrong in their cost-saving strategy during the pandemic and that the onus should be on the private sector to rebuild – as I’m sure it will (‘Air pirates’, 11 June).