The Observer - 11.08.2019

• The Observer
  48 11.08.19 Comment & Analysis

cannot be blamed entirely for

the IT crisis. Th at has to be laid

at the door of Willie Walsh and

the parent company. Th e airline

is riddled with old systems

that have become creaky and

ineffi cient.” Ruth Sunderland

ITV News

‘Reputation suffering’

“Th e IT problems are

embarrassing but they haven’t

appeared to signifi cantly

damage British Airways’

fortunes. Last year BA made

more money – almost £2bn –

and carried more passengers

• over 46 million – than the
  year before. However, BA’s
  reputation is suff ering.... It also

has relationship issues with its

staff , ending up in disputes with

cabin crew and, more recently,

its pilots, who are threatening

to strike.” Joel Hills

City AM

‘Torrid few days’

“Th e [IT glitch] rounded off a

torrid few days for the airline. It

was forced to cancel hundreds

of fl ights and then reinstate

them after strike action

by about 4,000 workers,

including security guards,

fi re fi ghters and engineers at

Heathrow, was called off. And

one of its fl ights became the

scene of a horror fi lm after

it fi lled with smoke, forcing

175 passengers to slide down

emergency chutes to the

runway at Valencia airport.”

Alexandra Rogers

Compiled by Josh Sandiford

This week’s issue

Beleaguered? Not

this opera company

Dalya Alberge described English

National Opera as “beleaguered”

(“ Encore! Hi-tech brings Pavarotti

back to life for new stage musical ”,

News , last week ). It’s important I

point out some basic facts.

ENO has just made a substantial

profi t, the biggest in almost a

decade, which we have reinvested in

more opera, more outreach, which

has funded free tickets to under-18s

on Fridays, Saturdays and opening

nights. Our fi nances have been

secure and growing for four years

now and we have substantial

reserves.

Audience attendance is up 11%

year on year and the proportion of

those from the BAME population

has increased from 3% to 10%.

The  average age was 67 three years

ago ; now it is 59. First-time opera-

goers accounted for 47% of visitors

last season – quite right for the

national opera house founded to be

for everyone – with a fi fth of those

coming back within the year. Our

productions are running around

the world, our box offi ce for next

season is signifi cantly ahead of

where it was this time last year and

we have just won an Olivier award

and a South Bank Sky Arts award.

More than 8,000 schoolkids took

part in our outreach programme

last year.

ENO is doing brilliantly and is

something to be celebrated.

Stuart Murphy, CEO

English National Opera

London WC2

Tactical voting: a warning

The dominance of Brexit as an

issue in the next general election

does give some support to the

idea of alliances and tactical

voting (“ People’s Vote targets 100

marginals ”, News , last week ), but

I have some concerns. Political

parties are not just collections of

people who happen to have similar

views on major issues. They refl ect

real divisions in society, resting on

two foundations: a set of principles,

an ethos, a world view; and a

constituency that they represent,

the section of society that benefi ts,

directly or indirectly, from the

application of those principles.

Agreement on a single issue, no

(“ Falling birth rates should hold no

fear if we are open to immigration ”,

Comment , last week ). According

to UN and World Development

Bank population data, the fertility

rate for Africa as a whole, although

still high compared with other

continents, has been declining

steadily since the 1980s.

The decline is particularly

apparent in the most southern and

northern African regions, where

countries such as Botswana, South

Africa, Libya and Tunisia have

fertility rates below three children

per woman.

Statements such as that in your

editorial unhelpfully perpetuate

stereotyping about the contribution

of the African continent to the

complexities of world population

growth.

Helen Robinson (two births, African)

Mafi keng, North West Province

South Africa

Transparency on technology

John Naughton’s article

compellingly talks to the concerns

over how innovative technologies

can affect our daily lives (“ Why

we should be very scared by

the intrusive menace of facial

recognition ”, Comment, 28 July).

When it comes to facial recognition,

we are right to show caution.

As Naughton highlights, recent

cases have seen high instances

own and, like Harry, had already

known love and heartbreak. There

has always been a certain amount

of anti-American sentiment in

this country that probably goes

back to the revolutionary war. To

traditionalists, Meghan will always

be the foreigner who stole Britain’s

most eligible bachelor. Being mixed

race is hardly an issue in this day

and age. The Duchess of Sussex

can do no right because she’s not

“one of us”.

Emilie Lamplough

Trowbridge, Wiltshire

Waterstone brought to book

Tim Waterstone seems anxious

to dispel any notions of guilt at

the closure of small, independent

bookshops (“ Waterstones founder

has no guilt over loss of small

bookshops ”, News , last week ). He

stresses that he started off in a very

small way himself – but doesn’t

everybody. Didn’t Amazon? You can’t

really offl oad guilt that way.

Waterstone protests too much;

he’s responsible in the same

way that Amazon is, albeit on a

smaller scale. That’s the way in a

competitive, money-driven market.

Just enjoy your riches, Tim, however

you came by them, and don’t bother

the rest of the world with your

shaky moral codes.

Ian Craine

London N15

Heads will roll

Please tell reporter Jen Kirby (of Vox,

USA) that Boris Johnson is head

of government, not head of state

(“ How the rest of the world sees

us” , New Review , last week ). The

second job is being done very well

by the Queen.

Robert Armstrong

Bromley, Kent

of “matches” later labelled as

false positives, suggesting the

technology does not yet possess

enough intelligence to guarantee

accurate results or overcome any

unconscious bias that may have

affected its development.

That’s not to say these issues

cannot be ironed out, as the

technology is enhanced with enough

intelligence to make it a safe and

powerful tool. And yes, legislation

and regulation have to be prioritised

alongside this.

Facial recognition is an emotive

issue because the possible benefi ts

(criminal identifi cation to support

a stretched police force) and

drawbacks (a highly intrusive

surveillance system that bypasses

citizen consent) are both so clear

to comprehend. Unless we all feel

updated and informed, concern

over the potential drawbacks will

dominate. There will be continued

scepticism, fear and a lack of trust

regarding innovative technologies,

all of which will prove detrimental

to delivering on the signifi cant

potential they carry. Now more than

ever, transparency is required.

Joe Baguley

Staines-upon-Th ames, Surrey

No more blitz spirit, please

“ We must change food production

to save the planet, says leaked

report ,” (News , last week ). It is not

only food production that needs to

change; changing the preparation

of food in millions of kitchens

would save a considerable amount

of carbon. Recipes tend to be full

of instructions to blitz this and

blend that, but never to use a hand

whisk. We need food columns full of

recipes to create tasty veggie dishes

that don’t cost the earth.

Wiebina Heesterman

Birmingham

The ‘trouble’ with Meghan

Catherine Bennett’s piece on the

Duchess of Sussex was sad but, on

the whole, I wouldn’t say that the

media backlash against Meghan has

anything to do with her skin colour

(“ Meghan seems to mix with all the

‘wrong’ people. So unlike the other

royals ”, Comment , last week ). It’s the

fact that she’s American.

Meghan didn’t have the image

of a pure English rose when she

married Harry. She was a woman

from a modest background who

had found fame and success on her

YOUR

LETTERS

Write to us

Daily Mail

‘Creaky old systems’

“British Airways has 45,000

employees, 45 million

customers a year and a

multibillion-pound balance

sheet. One thing it doesn’t have,

however, is a chief technology

offi cer... Although BA has come

under fi re for leaving customers

in the dark at Heathrow and

not providing enough help, it

Letters, which may be edited, should include a full name and postal

address and be sent to

Letters to the Editor Th e Observer, Kings Place,

90 York Way, London N1 9GU (to be received by noon Th ursday).

Email: [email protected]

(please insert Letters to the Editor in subject fi eld).

For conditions go to gu.com/letters-terms

Britain’s view on... BA leaving passengers stranded after IT failures

Reaching out: ENO’s Hansel and

Gretel at the Regent’s Park open air

theatre in London in June.

A headline referring in the

plural to the indigenous people

of New Zealand ought to have

said Māori, not Māoris ( “Will

Jacinda come? Māoris pin their

hopes on PM in fi ght for sacred

site” , 4 August, page 28).

Write to the Readers’ Editor, the

Observer, York Way, London N1

9GU, email observer.readers@

observer.co.uk, tel 020 3353 4736

For the record

matter how important, does not

override other considerations.

Indeed, even on opposition to Brexit,

there are signifi cant differences

between Conservative, Green,

Lib Dem Remainers and Labour

Remainers such as myself.

I can accept individual tactical

voting, but I am dubious about the

parties colluding behind closed

doors and thereby depriving voters

of the right to make that choice for

themselves.

Frank Jackson

Harlow, Essex

African birth rate isn’t rising

Your editorial on birth rates states

that “... apart from Africa, and some

parts of Asia, fertility rates are

declining across much of the world”

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