The Economist - USA (2020-11-28)

16 The EconomistNovember 28th 2020

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Letters

Workincentives

Althoughtherewasa carrotfor

peoplewhogottestedfor

covid-19inSlovakia’smass-

testingprogramme,therewasa

strongstick,too(“Scouse

lessons”,November21st).The

carrotforthosewhogottested

andprovednegativewasaccess

tofreedomsandexemptions

fromanotherwisestrictcur-

few.Butemployeeswhodid

nottakepartinthenationwide

testhadtoself-isolate,in

effect,andcouldnotgoto

work.If theyweren’tableto

provideanyothercertificateof

a negativetesttotheiremploy-

ertheyhadtostayathomeand

takeannualorunpaidleave.

However,if theytookpartand

testedpositivetheycould

claimsickleave,butstillhadto

self-isolatewiththeirwhole

household.

Thiscarrot-and-stick

approachledtoa 95%turnout

forthenationwidetest,help-

ingSlovakiahalveitscovid-

prevalenceinjusta week.

kristinalondakova

London

Veering to the left

I strongly disagree that Ger-

many’s Christian Democratic

Union is a “centre-right” party

(“The long farewell”, October

31st). This might have been true

in the early years of the Merkel

era. Nowadays, however, both

the cduand the Christian

Social Union in Bavaria have

lost any kind of sustainable

trait of conservatism.

The euro has been turned

into a political football,

immigration laws and regu-

lations are a mess, defence,

national security and other

areas that are of importance to

conservatives are in disarray.

natoand the wider European

alliance are in bits. Even worse,

a radicalised party, which

evolved from a liberal-minded

down-to-earth opposition to

Angela Merkel, has managed to

establish itself permanently

across the country.

The conservative parties

have turned into rather leftish

marketing professionals. Their

primary goal is to conserve

power and to celebrate

“ethical”views,insteadof

bringingthecountryand

Europeforward.Sadly,Richard

vonWeizsäcker’sassessment

ofHelmutKohl’sturntoa

self-centredpolicyfocuswas

madesubstantialthroughout

theMerkelyears.

It istimeforMrsMerkelto

stepdownnow.Newandbold

leadershipisneededtoprovide

answersandsolutionstohow

Germanywillearnitslivingin

thenearfutureandhowit will

playa geostrategicrole.A lotis

atstake.

johanneswarbeck

Augsburg,Germany

Womenandthevote

BanyangaveNewZealandthe

honourofbeingthe“thefirst

placeintheworldtogivewom-

enthevote”(November7th).

Thatwasin1893.In 1869 the

AmericanterritoryofWyo-

minggavewomenthevote,as

didtheterritoryofUtahin

1870,if onlyfora fewyears.

InwhatisnowCanada

somewomenvotedasearlyas

1793,notbecauseBritishcom-

monlawsaidtheycould,but

becauseit didn’tsaytheycould

not.Canadianlegislatures

closedthatloopholebutin 1873

femalepropertyownersin

BritishColumbiagottheright

tovoteinmunicipalelections.

cecjennings

Toronto

Talk all you want

Much of the discussion regard-

ing social media and free

speech does not distinguish

between the freedom of speech

and the right to be heard (“The

great clean-up”, October 24th).

Freedom of speech is protect-

ed, but the right to be heard is

not. Speakers were never

guaranteed a platform for their

views until social media came

along. Now everyone has a

chance to be heard.

But denying access to anti-

vaxxers, say, would in no way

limit their right to free speech.

They would still have all the

freedom of speech they en-

joyed before Facebook was

created. They can talk to their

neighbours, write letters, call

people on the telephone, pub-

lishpamphlets,organisepeti-

tionsandevenstarttheirown

social-mediaplatforms.

trevorschindeler

NorthBay,Canada

Thedistinctionbetweenfree

speechandfreepublicationis

thatI amfreetowriteoffensive

screeds.I amfreetopostthem

offtoeditorsandpublishers.

They,however,areunderno

obligationtoprintmy

diatribes.NeitherisFacebook

orTwitter.

adamisler

NewYork

Handlewithcare

I wasperplexedbyyourrefusal

toconcedethattheTravelling

Wilburysfeaturedmorethan

justGeorgeHarrisonandBob

Dylan(“Greenbacksforgreen-

ery”,October31st).WereJeff

Lynne,RoyOrbisonandTom

Pettynotevenworthyofan

“amongothers”aftermention-

inga formerBeatleanda Nobel

laureate?

andrewgush

Chicago

Singapore’s food hawkers

Food-hawker centres are

Singapore’s community dining

rooms and offer affordable

diverse food (“Out with the

new”, October 31st). Indeed,

Singaporeans have such

passion for the food that we

have nominated hawker

culture to be included as a

unescoIntangible Cultural

Heritage. unesco’s evaluation

body has recently recommend-

ed the inscription.

Our hawker centres were

first built in the 1970s, provid-

ing street hawkers with more

hygienic settings. We ceased

building new centres in 1985

and resumed in 2012. This

partly explains the low rents of

older-generation hawkers and

the high median age of those

working in the centres. The

government began offering

training programmes in 2013 to

attract new hawkers to the

trade, along with significantly

subsidised fees and stall

rentals. The operators of new

hawker centres also run

programmes to support new

entrants. The results have been

promising.

The median age of new

hawkers since 2013 is 46, much

lower than the national medi-

an. Many young enterprising

hawkers have gone beyond

selling traditional fare to offer

Western and other fusion

foods. We expect the median

age to decrease further.

These efforts will sustain

the trade, and keep Singapore’s

hawker culture flourishing for

future generations.

t.k. lim

High Commissioner of

Singapore

London

Train of thought

It came as no surprise to learn

in Bartleby’s column on

psychometric testing that

introverts make the best train

drivers (November 7th). I drive

trains on urban passenger

lines and cherish my autono-

mous mobile “office”, with no

one to report to (unless some-

thing happens to passengers,

the train or track infrastruc-

ture). My breaks between

journeys are spent reading The

Economist, in addition to other

literary material carried in a

tote bag. The best times to

catch up with unread back

issues are the unforeseen

delays, which can last hours.

I’d rather have The Economist

keep me company on the train

than a fellow human being.

eugene anthony

Perth, Australia

Bitcoin’s new romantics

At the risk of being as out of

place as jeans and a t-shirt at

the Blitz club in London on a

Tuesday night I feel that But-

tonwood left the main ques-

tion unanswered: did Steve

Strange have any bitcoin?

(“Blitz-coin”, October 31st.)

stuart smith

Maastricht, Netherlands