Letters

James Fergusson (September) portrays a seemingly polar choice between glamorous, seductive air-conditioning, and a medieval existence, featuring punka-wallahs and ice-walled palaces. But designing buildings so they achieve comfortable conditions with reduced energy usage is mainstream—Norman Foster's gherkin is the most visible recent example. Where has Fergusson been for the last 20 years?

Tim Sweetman
London W12

The English question
9th September 2006

Despite the resurgence of Englishness analysed in your symposium (August), a break-up of Britain is hard to imagine, even if the momentum supporting it were to grow significant. A number of factors have retarded the political debate until now and will continue to frustrate open examination of the issue.

First, despite the Tories' increased interest in the English question, each of the main parties has strong reasons—historical, cultural, personal and in Labour's case electoral—for keeping the union going. Second, a diverse range of powerful institutions, from the monarchy to the BBC, lends the union cultural validity and imaginative force. Third, as Robert Jackson notes, Britishness, being not ethnically prescriptive, has served as a valuable tool in fostering inclusivity in our multiracial society. Finally, devolution in Scotland and Wales may prove an end in itself, strengthening the union as Labour intended.

Chris Tryhorn
London SW2

Real causes of 9/11—1
31st August 2006

Peter Bergen's piece (September) on the causes of 9/11 rejects the theory that the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia was a motivating factor behind the attacks on the grounds that four out of the 19 hijackers were not Saudis. This is a remarkable statement for an expert on this subject. Bin Laden's point has never been that US soldiers were in the state of Saudi Arabia but rather that they were in the "holy land," by which he means—and all devout Muslims understand as—the whole of the Arabian Gulf and the Levant. These claims can be doubted, but arguing from the basis of nationality and national boundaries when the terrorists are motivated by a transnational issue is surely flawed.

Bergen's trump card is that, "in 2003, US forces in Saudi Arabia—Bin Laden's original casus belli—were reduced almost to zero." Yes, they moved a few sand dunes east to Bahrain (and now Iraq). That should really convince Bin Laden and his ilk that America has no malign intent in the region.

Hussein Luaibi
Vancouver

Real causes of 9/11—2
9th September 2006

In his otherwise excellent survey of the causes of 9/11, Peter Bergen repeats the falsehood that Nazism "abolished the very notion of God." This is not true. Nazism was underpinned by a vision of German national racial destiny bestowed by divine providence. God is a recurring presence in Nazi rhetoric. Not the Christian God, perhaps, but God nevertheless—a vengeful, Aryan, Wagnerian deity.

William Wiles
London SW1

Devaluing Chávez
25th August 2006

Jorge Castañeda (August) bewilderingly declares that from 1998-2005, "the value of the Venezuelan bolivar dropped by 292 per cent." In which case "Chavismo" defies not just the laws of economics but those of arithmetic. Surely once the value of anything drops by 100 per cent it has lost its entire value and is worthless. This absurd statistic is part of a selection of figures which purport to indicate Venezuelan decline under Chávez. The fact that they are all uncited should raise suspicions, given that Chavistas and anti-Chavistas are notorious for cooking up contradictory numbers to support their preferred view of the "Bolivarian revolution." The author, of course, served as foreign minister under President Vicente Fox of Mexico, whose relations with Chávez have deteriorated to the extent of a mutual recall of ambassadors last year.

Max McGuinness
Dublin

Europe's gas crisis
26th August 2006

I am afraid that Derek Brower (August) presents a very distorted picture of the European gas situation. Far from being dependent solely on Gazprom, Europe is in the fortunate position, unlike the US, of being surrounded by abundant gas reserves. Europe uses about 20 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas a year. A recent Shell estimate puts the resource potentially available to Europe at 6,421 Tcf, of which less than half (2,992 Tcf) is in Russia. The remainder lies with a range of suppliers, from northwest Europe (primarily Norway) to the Mahgreb (Algeria, Libya and Egypt), the Caspian "stans" and the middle east (mainly Qatar, Iraq and Iran). And this does not include the potential supply from west Africa and Trinidad.

The shortfall in supply of 70 billion cubic metres in 2012 is equivalent to little more than 10 per cent of total supply, and a significant part of that is accounted for by the expiry of existing long-term contracts that are likely to be extended in practice. More importantly, the supply picture is far more competitive than the article suggests; Britain is getting most of its new supply—more than it needs in the short term—on long-term contracts from Qatar and Norway. The price for this gas will be set by the traded market at Britain's national balancing point. Plentiful supply is not a recipe for being held to ransom on price.

Rob Shepherd
Twickenham

Remembering Crosland
31st August 2006

Denis MacShane is right about the significance of The Future of Socialism (September). But he is perhaps too kind about the intellectual quality of the Labour cabinets of the 1960s. In historic perspective, and despite Iraq, the Blair governments will probably stand the test of time against the running-down years of Wilson and Callaghan. Tony Crosland himself was not a successful minister, and was passed over as chancellor of the exchequer, the job he really wanted, in favour of both Roy Jenkins—as home secretary the one unqualified success of the 1964 government—and Denis Healey. Crosland's real influence was in the 1950s, before he became a minister.

I first met him at Oxford, in 1950, shortly after he had been elected to Gloucestershire South, and he soon became a figure of conspicuous glamour to my generation, not only in writing The Future of Socialism but in jousting with the neo-Marxist left in the pages of Encounter and lecturing to the Fabian Society. His capacity to reject with contempt a flawed argument presented with bogus authority was greatly admired. So too—although with awe rather than approval—was his ability to be stunningly rude to women when he found them naive. The combination of high intelligence, a wartime record in the paratroops, matinée-idol good looks and a hint of sexual ambivalence made him immensely exciting to those of us ten or more years younger.

William Rodgers
House of Lords

University governance
7th August 2006

I was surprised to learn that Alan Ryan (July) thinks that university councils do not exercise much authority or power. At first sight, such a view suggests little knowledge of the world beyond Oxford—which does not have a council, or at least not yet. It certainly does not accord with the experience of those of us who have experienced both the Oxford system and others. In other universities, councils exercise great influence and power. Of course, senates are also influential, yet in most cases charters and statutes confer all power—save for the immediately academic—on council. At best, there is a creative tension between two legislatures. Councils are probably least powerful in places where state funding is all important. In other words, their role has been largely usurped by Hefce—Ryan's "ticking boxes." But universities are becoming increasingly independent, and the influence of Hefce is likely to recede. If and when that happens, there can be little doubt that councils will seek to reclaim a leading role. They would be wrong not to do so. Yet it is curious that Oxford should consider creating a council in such circumstances. In the future, councils will seek to be "governing councils." A governing council would not sit easily with a tradition of autonomy going back 800 years. Something would have to give, and I fear that it would not be council.

John Clarke
University of Buckingham

History of antisemitism
28th July 2006

Tony Klug (August) dismisses the claim of historical antisemitism in the Islamic world as having no basis in fact, and quotes selectively from Bernard Lewis in support of this assertion. This is a nonsense much favoured in left-wing circles, where the belief that Muslims and Jews lived in harmony prior to Jewish settlement in Palestine is all in accord with the notion that all our modern ills stem from European imperialism. Let me quote Lewis back at Klug: "The golden age of equal rights was a myth… The myth was invented in 19th-century Europe as a reproach to Christians—and taken up by Muslims in our own time as a reproach to Jews… European travellers to the east in the age of emancipation are almost unanimous in deploring the degraded and precarious position of Jews in Muslim countries, and the dangers and humiliations to which they were subject." The full quote can be found in "The Pro-Islamic Jews," Judaism 17, No 4, 1968.

Charles Allen
London NW3

Trident vs the world
13th August 2006

Neither contributor to the exchange of letters about Trident (August) mentioned our legal obligations. The international court of justice in 1996 advised that, "There exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control."
A draft treaty, covering all the difficult issues of inspection and verification, has been lodged with the UN for almost ten years. Yet no nuclear weapon abolition negotiations are in progress or even contemplated by Britain or any of the other nuclear-armed states.

It is impossible to understand how replacing Trident—ensuring that Britain remains a nuclear weapon state until at least the middle of this century—while failing to initiate or participate in such negotiations can demonstrate the "good faith" required by the court.

The truth is that a world without nuclear weapons would demand, from those brought up to believe in the dogmas of nuclear security, a leap of imagination and an understanding of our collective interdependence which, so far, seems quite beyond them. Yet the nuclear "security" which we demand for ourselves we attempt to deny to other candidates for the nuclear club like Iran. That won't work.

Bruce Kent
Vice-president, CND