Letter: People might just survive cyberdoom

Sir: Nothing can be done in economic and political circles today without some reference to globalisation, low Third World wages, and the end of the nation state. It is all nonsense. Foreign trade is no higher a proportion of our activity than it was in 1914, foreign investment far lower.

Low wages in the Third World? First, these usually reflect low productivity. Second, most of the trading partners of the UK with which one associates low wages, such as Taiwan, actually don't have low wages any more.

End of the nation state? Until the 20th century there were no passports, no immigration controls, no border controls, little tax in most nations. The gold standard meant autonomy in monetary policy was severely restricted. Today, there are more nations than ever, they have more control over their citizens than ever, they are richer than ever.

MATTHEW J TURNER

London NW3