Letters: The world economy

This time, the US can't rescue the world economy

Friday, 24 October 2008

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There have been calls in recent days for a Bretton Woods II. Though some of these, such as that made by the US economist Jeffrey Sachs, are apparently made in the name of liberal values, they continue to be bedevilled by the arrogant assumption that such global financial initiatives can only be launched from Washington.

The vision that results is one where the world's poor can look forward to nothing more positive than waiting for handouts from the rich, or at most being conceded the right to defend themselves against the worst excesses of neoliberalism.

Moreover, today's world is one in which it is China, not the US or Europe, which has been lending billions to Africa, and is at this very time negotiating with Pakistan for a $1.5bn loan, while India and other countries with large overseas reserves are likewise beginning to map out plans for contributing to global financial emergencies, and Venezuela is in the process of establishing a Bank of the South.

Surely the time has come to dump the "Washington Consensus" for once and for all. Whether in its "old" clothing as neoliberal extremist wolf, or in the sheep's clothing as the "Post-Washington Consensus" of economists such as Sachs, it is based on an outmoded world view.

Let's hear it for a Beijing Consensus, a Delhi Consensus, a Caracas Consensus – a new vision that responds to the new shape the world can and must take, where it is those who have suffered from global economic injustice who take the initiatives and dictate the terms, not those in Washington and elsewhere among the G8 who are so obviously the problem not the solution.

Dr Hugh Goodacre

Department of Economics, University College London

Nato has no cause in Afghanistan

In answer to Neil Kitson (letter, 22 October), the battle Nato is engaged in in Afghanistan is for the political reputations of Bush, Blair and Brown, and it was generated in 2001 by the hubris of each. In fact, Nato is waging a wholly aggressive war, and one which is against its own principles.

Afghanistan in 2001 was an independent sovereign state, probably unwillingly encumbered by al-Qa'ida, which had sent suicide bombers into the twin towers in New York. This event was construed by the US, and the UK, as falling within the category of an assault on a Nato member, and that therefore the full military might of Nato could justifiably be turned against Afghanistan.

This construction has a terrible flaw: the principle of unified action was designed to counter and deter an organised aggressive action by a hostile country, not to exact revenge for a guerrilla action in the homeland of a member country.

Thus Nato fights in Afghan-istan on a false prospectus. Over one hundred British lives later, and many more Afghan lives, our politicians weep and say "this is a long hard struggle". The fact is, we should not be there at all. Britain, under whatever honest leadership can be found, should set an example to the rest of Nato, tell the US to fight its own guerrilla wars, and get out of Afghanistan.

This will have the added advantage of demonstrating to the world at large that we – the UK – recognise at least one of our errors in the Middle East, which might help to defuse the chance of terror attacks of the style of 7 July.

David Applegate

Taunton, Somerset

Deborah Orr's contention that it is "absurd to squander time and energy" explaining to Afghan women that they have a right to education and employment does not bear examination ("Death in Kabul and an aid system in chaos", 22 October).

Christian Aid has supported a number of partner organisations in Afghanistan in recent years that have endeavoured to counter gender inequalities there. Providing widows with skills so they can earn an income and offering girls an opportunity to break out of the domestic round goes hand in hand with educating against forced marriages, child marriages and domestic violence.

A sign of just how appalling the plight of women can be in Afghanistan is that in one year alone, 2003, some 384 women took their lives in the city of Herat, in the west of the country. In the face of that kind of desperation, we make no apology for promoting gender equality – including equal access to resources, equal opportunities for education and employment, equal wages, and equal participation in decision-making and democratic processes.

To suggest that such work is ultimately pointless is a betrayal of the poor and vulnerable, and a betrayal of human values too.

Robin Greenwood

Head, Asia and Middle East Division, Christian Aid, London SE1

Gareth Pryce (letters, 23 October) thinks that "the promotion of schooling for girls" is a "radical step" for Afghanistan, and "best carried out from within".

I seem to recall that such a step was indeed carried out from within in the 1970s, and flourished until the West responded by arming, training and funding the feudal lords and zealots that it now so blithely regards as definitive of Afghan "culture".

It seems "we in the West" are determined to "understand" other cultures as patriarchal and reactionary, and to look to the most orthodox and authoritarian class of clerics and landlords as their natural leaders.

While Britain still has no business in an Afghanistan they helped destroy, it is depressing to see such benign neo-colonial attitudes masquerading as liberalism.

Peter McKenna

Liverpool

The murder of Gayle Williams, an aid worker in Kabul, is tragic and despicable. Regrettably the impression often given by the media that it is only western charities and aid organisations that are working in places such as Iraq, Darfur and Afghanistan does not help. Is it not timely to give some recognition to volunteers and organisations such as Mercy Malaysia, from a Muslim country, who make an equal contribution and run equal risks?

David Phillips

London N16

Dark arts in the Tory party

Perhaps this week we have seen "Dave" Cameron finally show he is able to take on the mantle of the office to which he aspires. The most effective prime ministers – Churchill, Attlee, Wilson, Thatcher, Blair – have always been skilled in the dark arts, while the weakest – Heath, Major, Brown – allow themselves to become victims.

The coming economic storm is not going to be pleasant, and when Dave wins the next election he is going to need the best Chancellor he can get. The lightweight student debater Osborne isn't it. Yet he is an old friend who helped put Dave where he is today and can't be got rid of without appearing disloyal.

The "Yachtgate" affair is a storm in a teacup. But it does make Osborne look a fool on many counts. First for getting involved in funding discussions in the first place. There's a reason parties use semi-detached people for this sort of thing; it's dangerous. Second, for being caught doing it. He doesn't seem to have learnt where he can and can't be discreet. And finally, and perhaps most staggeringly, for thinking he could take on Mandelson in a game of stirring and intrigue and win.

The alleged offences themselves are really very minor; Osborne being a fool, however, does matter and Dave's vote of confidence (the type that leaves an itch between your shoulder blades) was most amusing.

One might almost believe Dave had pulled some of the strings himself, to give himself a chance of getting rid of a lightweight and putting someone with some gravitas in as his number two. Now that really would be prime ministerial.

Phil Hockley

Clare, Suffolk

After the international financial meltdown, every ordinary Joe on the street can now talk in figures of trillions and squillions; but allegedly senior members of the Tory Party, when having a coffee with the ninth richest man on the planet, can only ask for £50,000! I'm sure some billionaires have tipped the waiter more.

Senior Tories are questioning Mr Osborne's judgement. Quite! If you're going to lose your job, lose it for £5m not 50K.

Charles Gate

Halifax, West Yorkshire

After 63 years, still haunted by Belsen

The obituary of the Rev Leslie Hardman (21 October), relating his traumatic experiences at the infamous Belsen concentration camp, should be studied with care by post-1945 generations.

In August 1945, after the guns fell silent, the regiment in which I served (losses in north-west Europe: 139 killed and over 300 wounded) ended up in Hanover. In the local prison Irma Grese, the SS Belsen guard who had lampshades made of human skin, and the commandant, Josef Kramer, were awaiting execution. We were detailed to stand guard over them, and 63 years on, from time to time, sleep is interrupted by nightmare visions of Grese's hauntingly evil face.

On 11 November those who grow not old will be remembered at war memorials around the country. The ranks thin, the memories remain gin clear. There's still time for the well-suited who send men and women off to unforgiving wars to reform.

Tony Heath

Hay-on-Wye, Hereford

Folk songs of the Hebrides

In the article on the folk band Bellowhead (21 October) Pete Flood asserts that the call-and-response form of the shanty is African-American in origin, and he goes on to say there is nothing like it in our tradition.

Does this mean that he considers the Hebrides outside our tradition? I cannot believe anyone seriously interested in folk music is unaware of the widespread use of waulking songs there.

These, like shanties, are call-and-response work songs, but unlike shanties this is a female tradition. Waulking or fulling is the process of hand-shrinking tweed, during which the women would use singing in same way as shantymen used their songs.

Ray Black

Harrogate

Punters ripped off by ticket charges

I have just bought two tickets to see Metallica at the O2 next year. The tickets were £45 each, but I have also been charged £4.50 per ticket as a booking fee, and a "transaction fee" of £4.80, adding up to a whopping £13.80 surcharge.

I'm sick and tired of being ripped off like this. If any party was to announce legislation to prevent these charges I'd vote for them irrespective of any other policies.

I understand that there are suppliers and agents to be paid, but why can't their charges be built in to the ticket price, so that what you see is what you pay?

Mark Redhead

Oxford

Briefly...

Recession blues

So the UK is "likely" to slide into recession (report, 22 October). As Mervyn King states the bleedin' obvious (how much is he paid?), what am I supposed to do – hide behind the sofa?

Paul Bonham

Belper, Derbyshire

Women and climate

You quote the climate-change protester Tamsin Omond as saying: "About 70 per cent of people in the developing world who are already dying because of climate change are women", (18 October). I was not aware that "climate change" was sex-specific. I can think of no possible mechanism by which it could discriminate against women in this way, except, facetiously, that women are on average shorter than men, so rising sea levels would get them first. Can Tamsin Omond or any of your readers provide a source for this statistic?

Kim Plumtree

London E7

Royal nuptials

I can confirm Nicola Grove's experience (letter, 20 October); and princes can marry each other, too. On the way to school, my six-year-old granddaughter's friend asked if she knew girls could marry, looking for a shock-horror reaction. Of course, said she, and so can boys: my uncles are married to each other. And so they are (second cousins actually, and civil partners). Thank goodness children don't have to be prejudiced.

Michael Wadsworth

Chislehurst, Kent

Long trains

Richard Ingrams (18 October) says railway companies are reluctant to run longer trains because platforms are not long. He blames "health and safety" He should get out more. Two weeks ago, on a Friday, we travelled from the West Country to Paddington, and at two stations on the way there and one station on the way back the following Monday, passengers in certain coaches were advised to move forward because of the shortness of the platforms.

Dennis Croughton

Wellington, Somerset

A brand too far

This is a quote from a website describing a visit to the East Cheshire Hospice by the footballer Ryan Giggs, attributed to the organisation's chief executive: "We are all really excited that he could be there to launch our new branding." What sort of brand does a hospice exhibit? If correct this is an illustration of the ridiculous newspeak of 21st-century Britain – that a hospice has a "brand".

D J Browning

Altrincham, Greater Manchester