The Week - UK (2021-07-17)

27

Flirtingwithdisaster

ToTheGuardian

OntheBBC’sToday

programmethisweek,Sajid

Javidwascorrecttosaythat

priortothevaccinations,

25,0 00 Covidcasesadaywere

givingrise toabout5 00 deaths.

Buthisclaimthattheratiois

nowonlyone-thirtiethofthat

wasentirelydisingenuous.

Itistruethatthecurrent

movingaveragesof25,44 7

dailycasesand 1 8.14deaths

reducestheapparentratioto

aboutone-thirtiethofwhatit

was.Butthisfailstorecognise

thatthereisadelaybetween

infectionanddeath.Andthe

current 18 deathsresultfrom

casesreported 1 6daysago,

whentheywererunningat

9, 109 .Sotheincidenceof

deathstoinfectionsisreduced

onlytoone-eighth.Andthe

differencebetweenthe two,

interms offatalities,ishuge.

Deaths areatroughlytwo

per1,000infections.Soif at

100,000 bymid-August, this

couldmean 200 perday.And

doublingevery ninedays, they

willalmostcertainlygowell

beyondthat,whichcouldmean

at least 25,000 deathsbefore

Christmasand possibly more–

skewedasevertothe old, the

poorandthe infirm.

Itismonstrously unfairto

at-risk groups thatmaskswill

notbe mandatoryonpublic

transportandinclosedpublic

spaces.If anyone wantstogo

to anightclubunmasked,that’s

finebyme–Ishan’tbejoining

them.But twothingsthatmost

people haveto doare a)travel

to work,and b)buyfood. And

theyhavetheright todo those

things inanatmosphereasfree

as possible ofother people’s

exhaleddroplets.

ChrisSexton,Crowthorne,

Berkshire

The Afghan war

To TheTimes

The familiesof th eBritish

service personnelkilled and

injuredin Afghanistanneed

to know that those who

committed us to this campaign

knew therisks andunderstood

thehistory of the country. I

believethat ,mostly,they did.

Many mistakes weremade:

some gross, like the ill-thought-

throughlurchtoHelmand in

2006 ,inpursuit of the anti-

narcotics chimera;some small-

scalebut tragic andshaming,

like theoccasionalexcessive

useofforcewhencompound-

raiding.Theoverallstrategic

aims–removethe Talibanand

supportashattered country to

starttorebuild–wereright.

Thiswasnotafinalimperial

flingbutaresponsetothe most

devastating terroristevent in

history.This realstor ymatters

becausethesurvival of the

Afghangovernment requires

us to give it asmuch support as

we can. Promotingthe “grave-

yard of empires”idea only

makesiteasierto walkaway.

Col. Simon Diggins (retired),

defence attaché,Kabul, 2008-

10, Rickmansworth, Herts

Theweek’s sweet spot

To TheEconomist

Bartleby’scolumnonpicking

thebest daysto workfrom

homepromptedamemory

from my time working in the

SovietUnionin1976.Ibought

achess-timingclockfroma

storeinMoscow, which did

not work. WhenItold my

Soviet colleagues,one ofthem

wanted toknowwhat dayof

theweekit wasmadeon?

Duringthatera, appliances

leftthefactorywithaticket

indicatingtheday oftheweek

theywereassembled.

Knowledgeableshoppers knew

to avoi dproduct smadeona

Mondayor aFrida y: Fr iday

workers were thinking of the

weekend andMonday

workers were hungover.

Quality products,if at all,

were likely to have been

made onaTuesd ay,

WednesdayorThursday.

PhilipRakita,US

Clothing the billions

To theFT

John Gapper’s books

review, “Can weever curb

our desire to consume?”,

was interestingand

reminded us–by

introducing three books

about consumerism–that

toomuchhungerfor“stuff”

candestroytheplanet.

However,thearticleforgets

themostimportant issue –

demography.

WhenIwas born,only2.5

billion peoplelived onour

planet.NowIam 6 0and we

areclose toeightbillion,and

facingaround ten billion by

2050.Just togiveanexam ple,

every year 24billionpairsof

shoes are produced and soldin

theworld. Ofthose,80%are

trainers,and manufactured

withacidsand gluesthat

cannotbe recycled.

Mustwestopthistrend?

Yesofcourse.But thequestion

is howcan wefeedeveryone,

dress themandgivethema

job? Beforebeing amatter of

consumerism, itisaproblem

of demography.

Luca Alfonsi, Italy

Funding the triple lock

To The Daily Telegraph

Yourreportonthepensions

triplelocksaysthat£3bn will

beneeded ifpension sare to

increase by8.5%.

Lastyear,it wasreported

thatallthepensioner deaths

wouldsave theGovernment

£3bnin unpaidpensions.

Doesone not equaltheother?

GerryPrice, Granby,

Nottinghamshire

AColgate-fresh team

To The Guardian

Beingold enoughtoremember

England intheWorldCup

final,Inote thatallthe

currentEnglandplayershave

lovelyteeth. Aclearmemory

of 1 966 wasofNobbyStiles

smiling andhoppingaround

with hisfalseteethinhis

hand.Autres temps,autres

moeurs.

LesleyMatthews, Shipley,

West Yorkshire

17 July 2021 THE WEEK

LETTERS

Pick of the week’s correspondence

©NEWMAN/THESPECTATOR

“I shall now be fired from the cannon

intoabucket–withoutamask!”

●Letters have been edited

Exchange of theweek

ReformingWhitehall

ToTheTimes

IcannotagreewithJamesForsyththat“It’stimetogiveNo.

10 realleversofpower”.ThePrimeMinisterhiresandfires

ministers;hechairstheCabinetandsuchCabinetcommittees

ashewishes;hetalkswithotherheadsofgovernment;andhis

spokesmanbriefsthelobbyeachday.ThePMalreadyhas

sufficientpowerstogethisway,ifheknowswhathiswayis.

LordButlerofBrockwell,Cabinetsecretary 1988 -98

ToTheTimes

TwooftherecommendationsoftheCommissionforSmart

Governmentseemtometobereformswhosetimehasfinally

come.Thefirstisbringingtogetherthespendingandpersonnel

leversofgovernmentunderachiefsecretaryreportingtothe

PM,asintheOfficeofManagementandBudgetintheUS.

Thesecondisbreachingthelastclosedshopinpubliclife

byallowingthePMtochoosehisministersfromthewhole

country,ratherthanrestrictingittoMPsandLords(asisthe

caseinmostothercountriesintheworld).Thiswouldrequire

noconstitutionalorlegalchange,simplyanamendmentof

Commonsrulestoallow “strangers”to advancebeyond the

barof the Housesothat ministerscouldbe held accountable.

That wouldincrease the availabletalentpoolfrom360-odd

Conserv ativeMPsto66 millionpeople.

Jonathan Powell,DowningStreetchiefofstaff 1997- 2007

ToTheTimes

JamesForsyth isrightabouttheneedto reform theheartof

ourGovernment.The Britishstatehastheworstofallworlds:

ahighlycentralised systemofgovernmentwithout thecapacity

to organiseitfrom the centre. Primeministersneedtosetthe

directionand holddepartmentsto account,supported bya

civilservicebetter equippedtogivegoodpolicy adviceand

implement theGovernment’sprogramme.

However,structuralchanges cannever beasubstitutefor

sustainedprimeministerialeffortandattention.

AlexThomas,Institu tefor Government