The Economist - USA (2019-12-21)

20 The EconomistDecember 21st 2019

Lettersarewelcomeandshouldbe

addressedtotheEditorat

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Morelettersareavailableat:

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Letters

TheBritishAcademyonfirms

Yourarticleonencouraging

purposefulbusinessfailedto

conveyoraddresswhatthe

BritishAcademyreportonthe

“FutureoftheCorporation”is

saying(“Onpurpose”,Novem-

ber30th).Ourreportsuggests

thata firmshouldestablisha

purpose,actaccordingtoit and

haveregardtoitsconse-

quencesfortheinterestsofits

shareholdersandstakehold-

ers.It saysthata company

shouldnotprofitfromin-

flictingharmonothersand

shouldseektoprovideprofit-

ablesolutionstoproblems.

WhatpartofthisdoesThe

Economistobjectto?

I wasdisappointedthatyou

didnotcoverourextensive

discussionoftheneedfor

judiciousleadership;northe

caseforshareholdersplaying

theroleofstewardsratherthan

owners;northecomplexityof

thechallengefacedby

companiesgrapplingwith

globalissuesthatbothprivate

andstateactorshavefailedto

resolve.

TheEconomisthasmissed

thepoint.Thisisa subjectthat

meritsseriousinformed

commentanddebate.

professorcolinmayer

AcademicleadontheBritish

Academy’sFutureofthe

Corporationprogramme

London

The 1979 Iran hostage crisis

The vulnerability of American

aircraft-carriers (“Sink or

swim”, November 16th) is the

reason why the rescue of

hostages in Iran failed 40 years

ago. The navy absolutely

refused to send a carrier to the

Gulf for fear of Iranian mis-

siles. They knew that the first

carrier sunk would be the last

ever built. So we had to launch

from the Arabian Sea. Only

cumbersome anti-submarine

warfare helicopters had ade-

quate range. Flown by attack

chopper pilots in the marines

who were unfamiliar with

them, one got lost in a sand-

storm, another marine threw

his flak jacket on a vent and

burned the motor, and after

another helicopter failed for

mechanicalreasonsa fourth

stumbledintoa refuelling

aircraftandexploded,whichis

whenthemissionhadtobe

scratched.However,duringthe

firstGulfwar,whentheair

forceflewfromtheUnited

ArabEmirates,thenavydrove

thosecarriersrightupinthere.

Theproblemisthatalmost

theentiresurfacenavyisbuilt

aroundtheCarrierTaskForce.

Withoutcarriersthenavyhas

nostrategyanddoesn’tknow

whatelsetodo.

ambassadordavidaaron

Formerdeputynationalsecuri-

tyadvisertoJimmyCarter

Washington,DC

Man’sbestfriend

RegardingLexington’scolumn

onAmerica’sobsessionwith

dogs(“Impoochment”,Novem-

ber23rd),Plutarchtellsusthat

whenCaesarsawwealthy

Romansfawningovertheir

petshewonderedwhether

theyhadchildren,andreflect-

edonpeople“whospendand

lavishuponbrutebeaststhat

affectionandkindness”which

isreservedformankind.But

Plutarch’sresponsetothiswas:

“Withlikereasonmaywe

blamethosewhomisusethat

loveofinquiryandobservation

whichnaturehasimplantedin

oursouls,byexpendingit on

objectsunworthyoftheatten-

tioneitheroftheireyesortheir

ears,whiletheydisregardsuch

asareexcellentinthemselves.”

If onlyourdog-lovingmight

remindusnotjustofourde-

cliningconcernforhumanity,

butalsohowtechnologyand

scientificrealismhasocca-

sionedtheunfortunatedis-

regardofmoralphilosophy.

robertshapiro

Chicago

Ice-skating in Africa

West Africa’s first ice-skating

rink was indeed located in the

Ivory Coast, albeit not in

Yamoussoukro but in the Hôtel

Ivoire in Abidjan (“Crocodile

fears”, November 23rd). Built in

1963, the Hôtel Ivoire was the

plush place in western Africa

to go for ice skating, enjoy first

class food or watch a film. The

Economistonce called it

possiblythemostbeautiful

hotelintheworld(“Steady

doesit”,July17th1965).

peterstein

Stockholm

Free speech in Singapore

Contrary to your report (“False

alarm”, December 7th), our

Protection from Online False-

hoods and Manipulation Act

should be looked at in the same

context as our belief in the

right of reply, which in our

view enhances rather than

reduces the quality of public

discourse, and strengthens and

safeguards proper public

accountability that must

necessarily underpin democ-

racies. Online posts that have

been corrected remain avail-

able in full, but with links to

the government’s response

appended. Readers can see

both and decide for themselves

which is the truth. How does

twinning factual replies to

falsehoods limit free speech?

You also misrepresented

the falsehoods that the govern-

ment corrected. One post not

only accused the government

of rigging elections and con-

spiring to convert Singapore

into a Christian theocracy, but

also made false claims that it

had arrested specific critics.

Another did not only question

the “investment nous of Singa-

pore’s sovereign-wealth

funds”, but based this on false

allegations of losses that never

occurred. The Economistitself

recognises how serious a

problem online falsehoods are,

for example in “Anglichanka

strikes again” (April 21st 2018).

Fake stories have influenced

British politics, notably in the

Brexit campaign. Legislatures

around the world have been

grappling with this problem.

Singapore, a small English-

speaking, multiracial, multi-

religious city-state open to the

world, is more vulnerable than

most to this threat. Having

observed in Britain and else-

where the cost of doing noth-

ing, we decided to act. Singa-

pore’s laws are designed to

meet our own context and

needs. We have no ambition to

set any example for other

countries, but neither do we

make any apologies for defend-

ing our own interests.

foo chi hsia

High commissioner for

Singapore

London

Oxford jazz nights

Your obituary of Jonathan

Miller was excellent except in

one detail: you said that he

teamed up with three Cam-

bridge friends to produce

“Beyond the Fringe” (Decem-

ber 7th). Miller and Peter Cook

went to Cambridge, but Alan

Bennett and Dudley Moore

were Oxford men. In fact, when

I was steward in 1960 of the

junior common room at New

College, Dudley Moore’s jazz

group occasionally used a

room to store their instru-

ments. I once engaged Dudley

to play for one of our dances,

for £5 and open bar privileges.

richard middleton

Salt Lake City

Nightmare before Christmas

The caricature of Jo Swinson

on your cover of December 7th

reminded me of the witches I

saw portrayed once in a pro-

duction of “Macbeth”. Now that

Ms Swinson has lost her seat in

the British election, one could

imagine her thinking in your

illustration, “Is this a dagger

which I see before me?” But

with the Tories getting a huge

majority, my concern is “Some-

thing wicked this way comes.”

richard robinson

London