Machiavellian Mal

Sir: Spring has arrived! The shackles of Winter have been broken, the blossoms are blooming, the sun is making its presence felt, it’s good to be alive. Then suddenly…Coup d’état…in news that could belong to any number of emerging African countries, comes a tale of Machiavellian treachery and naked egotistical ambition. Enter our new Prime Minister; Malcolm Turnbull.

The same thing happened to the previous administration. Australians now have a foretaste of the kind of ‘democratic’ republic that the Gillards, Turnbulls, and others of similar character, are so keen to implement, i.e. Thanks for voting Australians, but we’ll take it from here. Sadly, I can find no reason to trust the new Prime Minister or his fellow travellers.

I feel that change is needed to protect citizens from these usurpations, by pretenders both present and in the future, but where will our protection come from? We are in the hands of the philistines.

John Lansdowne
Cheltenham, Vic

Ad with bite

Sir: I always enjoy the Speccie but may I point out that in your double page ad in the October 10 Australian edition the man being frontally digitalised needs urgent dental treatment!

Dr Tom Ruut, Radiologist
Garran, ACT

Voiceless conservatives

Sir: Had Tony’s shy Tories been a little less shy things may have worked out differently. The lesson is that conservatives need to speak up for the policies and candidates they support, even if they’re not fashionable. There is a real need for conservatives to develop the wherewithall to argue their case around the dinner table or BBQ in a coherent, convincing manner without sounding like a throwback from the 50s. If they don’t the Twitterati will continue to unduly influence the politics of this country.

Ross Farrelly
Frenchs Forest, Sydney

Putin the gangster

Sir: Putin is a gangster’s gangster. While he ruins Russia economically and diplomatically to keep himself in power, he behaves like a renegade in Ukraine and Syria (‘Putin’s triumph’, 10 October). He is a stirrer and an adventurer, who causes danger in the world and to his fellow citizens.

In 2011 he suggested that Russia should join the EU in a common market reaching from Lisbon to Vladivostok. That would be a good idea if the country were ready in terms of human rights and law and order, for Russia’s obvious political destiny is as a bridge between Europe and Asia. But Vlad changed his tune straight after the Sochi PR beano.

Russia was not ‘right about Iraq and Libya’, Owen Matthews, nor were ‘America and Britain dead wrong’. Russia has no view on matters of right and wrong, and Putin couldn’t give a damn about Assad; he wants a warm-water port and leverage at home. America and Britain were not wrong, simply incompetent and lacking in proper planning and consistent resolution, in circumstances that do actually challenge the conscience — which is something that does not tend to trouble Mr Putin.

David Chaldecott
London W9

Gove’s achievement

Sir: In just over four years, Michael Gove profoundly altered the direction of education in England. Teachers are not only allowed to teach from the front of the class, but are actively encouraged to do so.

Schools can no longer gloss over their failures with coursework, resits, and Mickey Mouse GCSEs and BTechs. The SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) agenda has been scrapped, and knowledge and understanding are once again the central tenet of education. It is difficult to think of any other politician since Thatcher who has had so profound an impact upon the real world beyond Westminster and Whitehall.

Nicky Morgan has had none at all (‘She could be a contender’, 4 October). Of course, she is not unusual in this respect. However, the fact that Gove’s political career is all but over and she is being tipped as a possible leader tells you everything you need to know about David Cameron’s priorities.

Tom Burkard
Easton, Norwich

The VW scandal

Sir: Rory Sutherland reckons that the software which helped Volkswagen dodge emission rules for several years could have been produced by ‘one or two unscrupulous people and a keyboard’ (The Wiki Man, 10 October). But its effects would definitely have been noticed by many other VW employees. VW must employ hundreds of people in the enterprise of testing software. The functionality of an engine loaded with particular software in an emissions test would surely have been a focus for testing, as failing an emissions test would have been catastrophic for sales.

If the software behaved to specification, that implicates far more than one or two unscrupulous programmers — including whoever wrote the specification and funded the software development. If the software did not behave to specification, then that would have been brought to management’s attention. Surely, even if emissions-test cheating software was not their original idea, many members of VW’s senior management would have heard about it.

Richard North
Netley, Hampshire