Letters | 20 March 2010

The cunning Mandelbrown

Sir: David Cameron and his gallant band do not seem to realise that they no longer face the clumsy and clunky Gordon Brown, but a new political hybrid — Peter Mandelbrown. The outward form may still be as lumpy and leaden as ever, but that merely serves as concealment for the hybrid’s cunning in thought and speech, its nimbleness in deceptive manoeuvre, and the lethally poisonous fangs, which it sinks into its victims’ reputations.

Unless David Cameron now hunts down Mandelbrown without mercy, then the monster will surely get him — and the rest of us thereafter.

Correlli Barnett CBE
Norwich

Commonsense solutions

Sir: The Spectator Manifesto is a welcome blast of concentrated common sense. Turning to Matthew Parris’s suggestion for a catch-all Repeal Bill, I was reminded of an earlier proposal made more than 70 years ago by the last MP for the University of Oxford. Perhaps Mr Parris too was thinking of A.P. Herbert’s draft, entirely in verse, of ‘The Spring (Arrangements) Bill’. Clause 3, headed ‘Repeal of Redundant Statutes’, runs: ‘Subsection (1) of Section Four of any Act that seems a bore, and all the Acts concerning beer, and every Act that is not clear (always excepting Schedule A), shall be repealed and thrown away.’ Sadly, as APH records (in Independent Member, 1950), he did not present it at the Table.

Roger Bush
Abingdon

Sir: Regarding your ten easy steps programme, I was astonished that you left out the most important issue for 70 million passengers. Bring back public transport: ours was the envy of the world many years ago and we all still have a need to keep moving. Many of us would love to have that railway network back and would like to be able to afford to use the train, but it looks like we still won’t for many years to come. If the Tories did something about it, they would get my vote.

Stephen Dawson
Norfolk

Whiggish derision

Sir: Damian Thompson (‘The public sector at prayer’, 6 March) appears to have fallen for the schoolboy error of scouring Google for an authoritative source in order to appear scholarly, only to perpetuate a false perception of both a source and its authority. He asserts that it was the suffragette Maureen Royden who ‘first described’ the Church of England as ‘the Conservative party at prayer’.

In fact, the analogy is of uncertain origin but certainly predates Royden’s 1917 statement (and also the formation of the Conservative party) by a couple of centuries. The phrase derives from the ‘Church and King’ Tory/Anglican-Whig/Dissenter disputes of the 18th century, and the quip about the Established Church being the ‘Tory party at prayer’ was a renowned Whiggish derision.

Adrian Hilton
Buckinghamshire

Perpetuating stigma

Sir: I am writing in response to the article ‘The public has every right to fear homicidal nutters’ (6 March). This article represents a huge step back in regard to the progress that has been made on the reporting of mental illness in recent years. Mr Liddle refers to an incident on a train where he was confronted with a man (whom he labels a ‘loony’ and ‘mentalist’) barking like a dog and making passengers feel uncomfortable. If this man is mentally ill, there is absolutely no excuse for the distasteful tone Mr Liddle uses to describe him. Mr Liddle uses this example to highlight the need to face up to the fact that sometimes severe mental illness can be a factor in violent crime. There have been homicides committed by people with severe mental illness. However, if you consult the National Confidential Inquiry, you will find in most cases these people are more likely to have a history of alcohol or drug abuse.

Sadly, it is the individuals who fall through the cracks and are not in touch with services who are more prone to violent crime. Journalism like this article, which perpetuates stigma, means that people are less likely to seek help — a fact Mr Liddle will surely find disturbing, considering one in every four of us will experience a mental health problem at some point in our lives.

Suzie Vestri
Campaign Director, ‘See me’ — Let’s Stop the Stigma of Mental Ill-Health, Edinburgh

Dog eat dog

Sir: Brendan O’Neill (‘In defence of devil dogs’, 6 March) needs to spend some time on sink estates and see how dogs are used there — perhaps watch four laughing hoodies while their pit bull bites the head off a live cat in front of the children who own it.

We should not allow our libertarian impulses to make other people’s lives a misery. J.S. Mill has something to say on this.

Nick Booth
By email

Sir: I must take exception to Brendan O’Neill’s defence of pit bull terriers. A friend of mine was walking her King Charles spaniel around Melbourne’s Middle Park Lake when her dog was set upon and almost ripped to bits by an unrestrained pit bull terrier. The police were unable to press charges despite the fact that the dog was supposed to be restrained in public places. The policeman reassured my friend, however, that in most cases the pit bull terriers were acquired by people who failed their application for a gun licence, so at least she wasn’t shot.

Ian Friend
Woolloongabba, Australia

Owzat?!

Sir: Reading Peter Oborne’s recent article (‘Cricket’s foreign legion’, 6 March), I was reminded of the joke doing the rounds during England’s recent tour of South Africa. Q. Where do the English cricket team stay when they tour South Africa? A. With their parents.

Neil Robertson
Cape Town