Dumb ox

Sir: I am surprised that Noreen from Queensland would expect to find balanced opinion in the pages of the Spectator. My reading of the Speccie is inspired by ‘the dumb ox’, Thomas Aquinas: “there is no better way of conceiving the truth and keeping falsity in check than by arguing with people who disagree with you.” I do not look for balanced opinion but for views that challenge my own.

Noreen and the writer of the Leading Article, July 16, seem to share an unrealistic expectation of what this fallen and falling world can offer. I do not look to any government even that of the purely-driven conservative persuasion to ensure “our immediate economic and cultural future”.
Mark Porter
New Lambton, NSW

Drab cloak

Sir: If Noreen from Queensland is our Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells I have to tell you that she and he and we are many, and all of us share a common concern – that our cherished Spectator Australia has over the past year or so gradually shed its jacket of many colours and is now clad in a drab cloak which, to our eye, has been tailored to fit, you sir, the editor of our weekly.

On behalf of all us Noreens of Queensland, I urge you to throw off the dark clobber with its banners, badges and mottoes that identify the strident and shrill activist.
John Dorman
Toowoomba, Qld

High coup

Sir:

Things in Turkey
Very murky.
They’ve had a coup
(but by who?)
Wasn’t just by anyone –
just ask Erdogan…!

Bernard d’Abrera
Mt. Dandenong, Vic

Our terrified youth

Sir: Both Claire Fox’s ‘Generation Snowflake’ and Mary Wakefield’s recent column (What’s to blame for a generation’s desperation?, 16 July) get to the root of the terrified pessimism which (I am told) afflicts much of today’s youth.

At 67, I’m fortunate enough to mix with quite a few thoroughly aware, thoughtful and successful young ’uns who eschew the sanctity of ‘safe spaces’ for the rumbustious joy of boozing, singing, dancing, loving and socialising and generally tackling that fearful world head on in ferocious defiance. As Chesterton so perfectly put it in his reply ‘To Young Pessimists’

Some sneer; some snigger; some simper;
In youth where we laughed, and sang.
And ‘they’ may end with a whimper
But ‘we’ will end with a bang.

I know which side I was on in my youth. Lighten up, kids; there’s always hope. But first, you must go through the scary process of opening your eyes to look for it.
Bob Maddox
Wolverhampton

Not another Joe!

Sir: I very much hope that Theresa May does not intend to ‘follow in the footsteps of “Radical Joe”’ (‘She’s another Chamberlain’, 16 July). Chamberlain broke the Liberal party in 1886, when he deserted Gladstone over Irish home rule; and the Conservatives in 1906, when he split the party over his campaign for imperial preference, a policy that none of the dominions supported. He was mercurial, poor at economics and was not a man many found it comfortable to work with.

He was, however, a great businessman, helping drive Nettlefold and Chamberlain (now GKN Limited) to dominance in the screw trade.
Charles Nettlefold
London WC2

How’s that sovereignty?

Sir: Charles Moore makes a valid point in his Notes of 9 July when he says that Parliament needs to improve. If it had been more on the ball, it would never have sanctioned a referendum, the result of which has flown in the face of the will of a significant parliamentary majority. The extent to which membership of the EU actually curtailed that sovereignty at all was largely unexplored by the lamentably superficial campaigns of both sides; but the referendum surely has left its significance looking shaky. Am I alone in wondering how this whole process is helping it ‘recover’ its so-called sovereignty?
Michael Laidler
London N1

Do be a pilgrim

Sir: Two years ago I walked the Camino Frances from the Pyrenees to the Atlantic, approx 750 miles (‘Pilgrimage’s progress’, 16 July). No iPhone or iPad; just a pack on my back and municipal hostels every night. It was gruelling, but my fellow pilgrims were entertaining, the Spanish extremely hospitable, and the craic inexpressible. I returned a new man, a stone and a half lighter, my head clear. I recommend this purgation to anyone of any or no faith.
Clive Dytor
Charlbury, Oxon

Mmm… marmot

Sir: To set the record straight, I can attest to the pleasures of a good marmot casserole (Letters, 16 July). While walking in Graubünden in early autumn a few years ago, the proprietor of our hotel told us that it was the local practice to cull the marmot periodically and that they made ‘good eating’. They did — served with a rich sauce, the meat was like a cross between venison and rabbit, albeit rather bonier than either. The accompanying Swiss red wine had also obviously improved since the Reverend Norton’s visit.
John Bridle
St Peter Port, Guernsey

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