The Economist - UK (2022-05-07)

18 The Economist May 7th 2022
Letters

Neglectingchildren

I waspleasedtoseeTheEcono-

mistdrawattentiontotheways

inwhichtheyoungestchil­

drenhavesufferedduringthe

pandemic(“Nosmallpro­

blem”,April16th).Thisgovern­

mentsimplydoesn’tprioritise

a goodchildhoodasa public­

policyoutcome.TheBritish

MedicalJournalrecentlyreport­

edthatthetermsofreference

forthecovidpublicinquiry“do

notincludethewordschild,

childhood,babies,toddlers,

school,childcare,college,or

forthatmatter,play,inter­

action,orsocialisation.”Inthe

summerof 2020 JamesKirkup

oftheSocialMarketFounda­

tionnotedthatthegovern­

ment’spandemicplanning

prioritisedthereopeningof

pubsandbarbersoverschools

andnurseries.Children’s

charitiescontinuallyencoun­

tera Treasuryorthodoxythat

seesBritainasa countryof

borrowers,consumers,work­

ersandemployersbutnot,it

seems,littlepeoplewhoneed

tolearnandplay.

SavetheChildrenhasbeen

givingemergencygrantsto

familieswithyoungchildren

throughoutcovid.Although

books,educationaltoysand

playpacksareusefulthey

cannotoffsetthecost­of­living

crisisthatisnowtippingthou­

sandsmorefamiliesintoa

calamity.Parentswhohave

alreadybeencuttingbackon

food,heatingandoutingsfor

theirchildrenareoutof

options.Nurserystaffare

reportinglostlearningand

behaviouralproblemsofchil­

dren.Theworstisstilltocome.

kirstymcneill

Executivedirectorofpolicy,

advocacyandcampaigns

SavetheChildren

London

China’s ideological insecurity

Chaguan wrote about China’s

broadside against liberal

human rights (April 16th). This

offensive aims to protect Chi­

na’s ideological security, a key

part of its national­security

concept. China has been ruled

by the Communist Party since

1949 on the basis that only it

canleadthecountrytoa great

renaissance.Thepartyhas

constantlywarnedandhas

takenactionagainstwhatit

seesastheperniciousinflu­

enceofliberalideologies.The

CommunistParty’srepression

isitsideologicalimmune

systemfightingoffforeign

ideologiesbothwithinChina

andabroad.

IntheearlydaysofXi

Jinping,thePeople’sDaily

wroteabouttheNewBlackFive

Categories,whichwere

human­rightslawyers,

undergroundreligions,dis­

sidents,internetinfluencers

andpeopleofso­calleddisad­

vantagedgroups(Tibetans,

Uyghurs?).Theseareanalo­

goustotheoriginalBlackFive

partyenemiesofMao’stime,

whichwerelandlords,rich

peasants,counter­revolu­

tionaries,badelementsand

rightists.HereMrXiechoes,as

heoftendoes,a Maoistformu­

lationashedefendsChina’s

ideologicalsecurity.

davidcowhig

UnitedStatesForeignService

Officer,retired

Alexandria,Virginia

Quadratic voting for firms

“The power of the proxy” (April

23rd) highlighted the inability

of minority shareholders to

exercise their proportional

stakes. The core of the problem

was identified in an article you

ran last year (“The public

squared”, December 18th 2021).

As Lionel Penrose showed, the

power of a holder of several

votes grows as the square of

their vote weight, rather than

linearly, so small holders will

inherently be disadvantaged.

Penrose’s solution is that

voting weights should grow as

the square root of the stake. 

This intermediate point

between “one person one vote”

and “one share one vote” was

successfully approximated in

various corporate­voting

structures in the 19th century,

before the canonisation of one

share one vote. It is currently

used approximately by the

European Union for voting

power as a function of pop­

ulation, and is used precisely

by many Web 3 distributed

autonomous organisations for

governance as a function of

crypto­tokens. It also has the

virtues of discouraging con­

centration in asset ownership

without heavy­handed anti­

trust policy and hostile take­

overs without discriminatory

poison pills. 

e. glen weyl

Founder

RadicalxChange Foundation

Kirkland, Washington

Politics and art

I enjoyed the By invitation by

Semyon Bychkov (April 9th)

and generally agree with his

views on creative freedom.

However, his comment that

“Art cannot and should not be

used for political ends or to

justify any ideology” misses

the mark. Many of the works

that critics label as masterpiec­

es have indeed been used to

justify political ideologies.

Take a look at Picasso’s “Guer­

nica”. Politics, art and ideology

are intertwined. If Mr Bychkov

had added “by the state” to his

original sentence, I would have

no problem agreeing with him.

nicholas teeny

Seoul

Astrict immigration policy

The Economisthas it backwards

when it comes to Australia’s

and Britain’s frightful refugee

policies (“Somebody else’s

problem”, April 23rd). The

Australian government tore up

its commitment to human

rights through offshore “pro­

cessing” of asylum­seekers

and its explicit policy banning

Australian resettlement for

any refugees arriving by boat.

It is wickedly good marketing

that this could be reported as

being “interned”, when in fact

hundreds of potentially legiti­

mate refugees were left strand­

ed in Nauru and Papua New

Guinea. Australia has since

struck deals with countries to

resettle detained refugees, in

effect shirking its responsibil­

ities under the refugee conven­

tion. It is a mistake to think

Australia’s refugee policy is a

milder precursor to Britain’s. 

lucy shaw

London

Love/hate

I must take issue with your

correspondent’s description of

Marmite as “sludge” (“Marma­

geddon”, April 16th). Marmite

is, on the contrary, an unctu­

ous indulgence, a comestible

black gold, an ambrosia, even,

given its derivation from the

fermentation of amber nectar,

not to mention its alleged

numerous health benefits. 

To paraphrase Omar Khay­

yam, a loaf of bread and mar­

mite, a jug of wine, and thou. 

robert graham-bryce

Chicago

Funny car plates

I am glad to hear that Britain’s

vehicle­licensing agency tries

to avoid obscenities and politi­

cal sensitivities when issuing

number plates (“Baby you can

drive m1car”, April 16th). In

America I have been fortunate

to obtain the personalised

plate of “man utd” in a few

states. Unfortunately it was

already taken in Florida (could

it be because Florida is the

home state of the football

team’s owners, the Glazers?).

So I had to settle for “man

utdz” in recognition of Zlatan

Ibrahimovic, who used to play

for them. 

In Iowa I was asked if “man

utd” was obscene. To which I

replied, only in certain parts 

of Liverpool. 

norman s.j. foster

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Some years ago I inquired

about a plate I thought would

be quite fun. I was told that it

was not a special plate and had

already been randomly allocat­

ed. Indeed, the new owner

probably did not think much

of x32 toh. But drivers seeing

him approach in their rear­

view mirrors might think

otherwise.

shaun cooke

Ide Hill, Kent

Letters are welcome and should be

addressed to the Editor at

The Economist, The Adelphi Building,

1-11 John Adam Street, London wc 2 n 6 ht

Email: [email protected]

More letters are available at:

Economist.com/letters