Letter of the week: Where is Labour’s fire?

Andrew Marr’s valedictory piece as politics editor was a typically balanced critique of Keir Starmer’s embattled government (Cover Story, 24 October). Starmer’s style worked brilliantly in the law, where judges prefer dispassionate reasoning to vivid rhetoric. But what works in court does not work for a country deeply divided and angered by the extortionate cost of living and housing, failing public services and uncontrolled immigration (the last a narrative magnified by culture wars). Starmer is unlikely, at 63, to discover his inner Nye Bevan, brimming with the eloquence, fire and argument that Marr rightly says Britain needs. It’s time for him to forget the focus groups and his ministers’ mealy-mouthed flip-flopping between Reform-lite and centre-left talking points. His government must finally decide where it stands on our problems, and start making and communicating decisive joined-up policies to address them. Rachel Reeves’ impending Budget is the perfect opportunity to do so. The alternative is an insipid and ineffectual journey into decline for the country, and electoral destruction for Labour.Robert Dear, London N14 New times, new thinking Andrew Marr states: “Starmer, I insist, is a decent man with strong public values who is doing his level best.” Fortunately, Starmer was not prime minister in the early 20th century. The suffragettes would have been proscribed as a terrorist organisation and holding a placard with the words “Votes for women” would have you arrested under Section 13 of the current Terrorism Act. This has been the fate of about 2,000 people because of their public support for Palestine Action. If Palestine Action can be proscribed, then what next? Climate protesters? Opponents of ID cards? The rights of protesters were severely limited under the previous government. Many are dismayed that Labour, led by a supposedly decent man, is making meaningful protest almost impossible.Marilyn Spurr, Exeter Andrew Marr has done a grand job in reflecting and analysing my worst fears and, occasionally, optimistic thoughts. I am grateful to him for helping me come to terms over the past year with the reality of what, as I have increasingly feared, lies ahead. It is a comfort to know that his wisdom and brilliant way with words will continue to keep me on track.Libby Grimshaw, Nottingham I was delighted to hear that Ailbhe Rea is returning to the New Statesman as political editor. I have missed her insightful observations and her eye for the absurd in politics and am very much looking forward to enjoying her astute judgement and rich humour once more in the pages and podcasts. Welcome back, Ailbhe!Thomas Barnett, Glossop, Derbyshire Having read Andrew Marr’s final paragraph as political editor, in which he stated that the Conservatives are underpinned by the Church of England, I took a straw poll at a meeting of Ipswich vicars. This confirmed what I have long known: the CofE, while embracing a wide spectrum of views, today both institutionally and individually leans to the left.Canon John Thackray, Vicar, St Mary-at-the-Elms, Ipswich Up for debate Matt Hammond, who advocates means testing the state pension (Correspondence, 24 October), is wrong on two points. First, he says that those who would lose out “wouldn’t vote for Keir Starmer anyway”. As a comfortably well-off pensioner who has enjoyed most of the boomer benefits, including a public-service pension, I would vote Labour with greater enthusiasm if they adopted a more targeted approach to pensions. Second, the correspondent says that if the mission is fairness, “the enemy is middle-class welfare”. Yes, but not the only enemy. Quite a lot of non-pensioners are better off than I am and should be targeted too.Andrew Wardrop, London SW19 Brent Charlesworth blames immigrants for the country’s problems (Correspondence, 24 October). While it is perfectly understandable to have these concerns, it is the manner of some of the protesters that causes many of us to be upset and angry. The British and English flags represent to me an enlightened, humanistic voice for democracy and the law. Some of the expressions of the demonstrators outside the Epping Forest Hotel were full of hatred. I recently read James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time (Taschen edition) and the anger on the faces of demonstrators against the civil rights marchers bore similar expressions.Michael Moore, Loughton, Essex Pedant sic in omnibus Reading the Sketch by Emily Lawford (24 October), I was struck by the comment regarding populism and its meaning. Lawford rebukes the conservative scholar James Orr for saying “populism is Latin for democracy”; literally, she is correct to state this is not the case. But to be more charitable, Orr’s point was that populism is the will of the populus, and is derived from Latin so roughly means the same thing. Given the context of the Battle of Ideas which I attended, where speakers have to express their views succinctly, I would have given a bit more leeway and not picked up on this. Sure, if Orr was writing a dictionary entry pedantry would be appropriate, but in essence I feel he is correct.Charles Lambert, London SW15 Gray eminence I always approach John Gray’s articles (The NS Essay, 24 October) with trepidation. Will I be bamboozled (“antinomian”, anyone?) by his learning and historical references? Will his dogmatic assertions irritate me (“self-realisation has become the core liberal value”; “there are no such things as rights”; “proliferation of identity groups is a… therapy”)? Or will his certainty that we are doomed to be a failed state lead me deeper into the gloom? Fortunately, the risk in Britain is apparently not civil war, just ungovernabilty. But after reading many of Gray’s pieces over the years, sifting what makes sense and what I’ll leave to those cleverer than me, I think I get the point: we are going to hell in a handcart, although whether this is because of liberalism, hyper-liberalism or post-liberalism I’m still not quite sure.Geoff Skinner, London NW10 I take exception to a sentence in John Gray’s essay: “Organisations associated with terrorist activity – such as Palestine Action, the neo-Nazi Maniac Murder Cult, etc”. How can these be placed “cheek by jowl”? No evidence of “violence against the person” by Palestine Action has ever been forthcoming. I write on behalf of myself and, I’m sure, hundreds of pensioners and others who are on bail for expressing concern over the atrocities in Gaza.Katy Burbridge, Hastings, East Sussex Cask in glory I have been reading the New Statesman since the 1970s and am enjoying it under the new editor. However, I wish to take issue with the last paragraph of his Editor’s Note (24 October). The Lake District is a complex region that is much more than its peaks, northern beer, chips and gravy. Tom McTague looks down on a hinterland that contains the skilled manufacture of the nuclear deterrent at Barrow, the endless search for safe disposal of nuclear waste at Sellafield, a difference in life expectancy between the west coast and the rural Eden District, and an ongoing and admirable struggle to build a new mosque in Dalton-in-Furness in spite of far-right opposition. The south lakes now have 11 foodbanks and locals are desperate for affordable housing. Much as I love the Old Man of Coniston, there is more to life here than Wainwright.Mike Gibbons, Cartmel, Cumbria Since he took over as editor, I have appreciated Tom McTague’s numerous mentions of his love for cask ale. Like the New Statesman, cask beer is a British institution that has suffered through challenges, but both seem to be enjoying a renaissance with the next generation. Unlike other readers, I don’t enjoy my copy in the bath but instead down the local, with a pint of cask and the chance to discuss articles with my fellow pubgoers. Here’s to plenty more pints!Ash Corbett-Collins, chairman, Camra More in hope than expectation… To test the political temperature now the party conference season is over, while reading the latest issue of New Statesman (24 October), I decided to count the number of times each party leader was mentioned by name. The results were: Keir Starmer, 28; Nigel Farage, 20; Kemi Badenoch and Zach Polanski, one mention each. If this was to be translated into votes at the next general election, Labour has nothing to worry about, but Reform will be the opposition. The Conservatives will tie with the Greens on their poorest performance since records began, while the Liberal Democrats will have been completely wiped out.Terry Fairhall, Chessington, Surrey Write to letters@newstatesman.co.ukWe reserve the right to edit letters [Further reading: Abolish the monarchy]