In Matt d’Ancona’s piece on the dangers of Elon Musk (“The stateless authoritarian”, TNE #404), his “planetary oligarchy” phrase is as prescient as those sci-fi films we have watched for years in which all-powerful corporations rule the world and wage war with powerless governments.
Where is Han Solo when you need him?
Neil Townsend
Elon Musk can be described as the ultimate sovereign individual (and there are already too many of them). His wealth and power put him above the law. He can do and say whatever he likes with impunity and without having to conform to the societal norms expected of ordinary folk.
Pete Mann
For a man who loathes socialism, Elon Musk is surprisingly reliant on US federal tax dollars…
Em Jackson
Leaving Twitter was step one in not letting Elon Musk’s abusive nature into my life or headspace. Others should do the same.
Steven Rowe
James Ball’s “A Man Without a Plan” (TNE #404) states that Elon Musk, whose worth, we’re told, is just under a quarter of a trillion dollars, has “enough money to spend $1m a minute for the next 25 years and still not run out”. No, he doesn’t.
One million dollars every minute for the next quarter of a century (10^6 x 60 x 24 x 365.25 x 25) comes to about $13.15tn. Even if we generously round up Musk’s fortune to a nice round $0.25tn, the most he could fork out every minute is about $19,000.
That said, far be it from me to argue with the sorts of hard facts bandied around on X.
Ben Hope
I dislike Elon Musk intensely, but have to defend Tesla. As James Ball says in his article, all the big car companies are partnered with multiple brands.
These can combine huge R&D budgets.
The progress Tesla has made in EV technology while standing alone is quite extraordinary.
Chloe Lowery
PERSPECTIVE
Image conscious
I enjoyed Sophia Deboick’s 30 Best European Album Covers in TNE #404; some amazing choices that are impossible to argue with. But if Britain is still part of Europe, the Beatles’ Abbey Road should have had a mention. A normal zebra crossing has taken on incredible gravitas over the years, with thousands of fans visiting the place as if on some sort of religious pilgrimage.
Likewise, Pink Floyd and Animals’ stunning photo of Battersea Power Station could have had a mention, with its nascent gloom summing up so much of our rich history at the time.
Lastly, perhaps U2 and the photo of Moydrum Castle on the cover of The Unforgettable Fire might have pipped All That You Can’t Leave Behind.
DC Kneath
Sophia Deboick chose some wonderful album covers. I feel, however, if we delete Mike Oldfield looking glum in Menorca, we could leave the top spot ahead of Rammstein to Euroman Cometh, the 1979 solo album by the formidable Jean-Jacques Burnel (The Stranglers’ bassist).
This is a multilingual album looking forward to a European Union and its prospects. Burnel says on the inner sleeve “A Europe riddled with American values and Soviet subversion is a diseased sycophantic old whore: a Europe strong, united and independent is a child of the future”.
Mark Cobb Perth, Scotland
The future’s orange
Paul Mason was spot-on in “Can America jail Trump?” (TNE #404). Europe must update, upgrade and spend more on its own defence. Reliance on the American circus of presidential elections to produce a decent person to lead Nato is clearly in jeopardy.
But the mere sight of the orange man put me off my burger!
Allan Jones
Paul Mason is mistaken about one thing: Donald Trump cannot pardon himself for his New York fraud crimes. They are a state crime. A US president can only pardon federal crimes.
Mike Quinn
There was a 1964 film, Seven Days in May, which showed an attempt by the US military to overthrow the US government. Might be worth a watch in the current circumstances.
Simon Delaney
STARMER GLASSESGATE ROW
The old ones are the best
Re: Nigel Warburton’s Everyday Philosophy on autumn and ageing (TNE #404). During my time as a church pastor, I saw numerous examples of people who DID feel there was a rigid boundary to ageing. They’d reach some round-figure birthday, sometimes as young as 60, and suddenly decide they were old.
Their behaviour, attitudes, activities (or lack of) all changed, often for the worse. Here I am, at 72, finally feeling that I’m now “approaching middle age!”
Tony Jones
It’s all in the mind, surely? I’m 82, and I regularly walk at least a mile a day. Until I turned 80 I did that by pushing a machine full of white paint round the three pitches of my local rugby club, keeping their white lines fresh.
My father, also a rugby player in his youth, was a doctor, and he thought that if you kept the level of fitness needed to play rugby in one’s youth, you also remained fitter in your old age. This is borne out, I think, by my memory of my paternal grandfather, who played six seasons of international rugby for Scotland between 1896 and 1902 and was also a good tennis player, walking on his hands on a sandy beach in his late 60s.
Tim Fell
One definition of autumn used by the Swedish Meteorological Institute says autumn has started when the average temperature for the day is under 10C for five days in a row. This means you don’t know when autumn has started until a few days after it has got going.
Maybe ageing is also like this for some people. Eventually, you can look back and say “I started to slow down when…”
Keith Bryant
Robbing the poor?
Alastair Campbell credits John Major for Paralympic success through the introduction of the National Lottery (TNE #404). Wouldn’t the lottery have raised more for good causes if it were owned by the nation, either directly or as a quango, rather than profiting a private company?
It is a shame that athletes’ funding arises from the unfairness of poorer people giving money to millionaires, as intended by the National Lottery: “It could be you”.
Roland Lazarus, Billericay, Essex
The Corbyn effect
Professor Emeritus Tom Wilson (Letters, TNE #404) is right to say that Jeremy Corbyn was largely brought down by the right wing press, but in many respects the previous Labour leader didn’t help himself.
Had he won the 2019 general election, the MP for Islington North would have been PM while the other great posts of state – home secretary, foreign secretary and chancellor – would have been offered to MPs representing neighbouring Hackney and Islington South as well as nearby Hayes and Harlington. Those who know their geography can appreciate why the so-called red wall seats “up north” as well as many outside the M25 felt alienated.
Corbyn also cracked down on dissent, which seemed a bit rich coming from someone who routinely challenged the Labour whip.
Finally and most crucially, readers of the New European will remember him as the person who had the power to force a second referendum on Boris Johnson in autumn 2019, but instead agreed to a general election he stood little chance of winning – an election that subsequently delivered Brexit.
On paper he was a Remainer, but his lacklustre campaigning was a major factor in the referendum result. What a different world it would be today if he had enthusiastically backed the majority of Labour Party members keen to stay in the EU.
Dewi Jones, Pontypool, Wales
Shining example
I notice that in “Why athletes are good sports” (TNE #404), Peter Trudgill gives as an example of the word “brilliant” this: “The Scots were brilliant”.
In my experience the word “brilliant” is rapidly being downgraded, as when talking to some assistants over the phone, they will ask my name and, when I tell them, I get the response “brilliant”. Age? Brilliant”. On a downward path like “nice”, I think.
Hugh Ball
An old new tax
Jonty Bloom (“The case for land tax”, TNE #403) writes as if he himself has just discovered land value tax as the solution to many of our problems. He makes no mention that it has been Liberal (and now Lib Dem) policy since the first decade of the 20th century.
It was recognised then as a fair solution, but was scuppered by the House of Lords, most of whom were landowners. With the last 92 hereditary peers being removed under current legislation, maybe the chance of acceptance will become greater.
It is to be hoped that Rachel Reeves will give it serious consideration in her October budget.
David Murray, Wolverhampton, West Midlands
Cover-up
Can I suggest a simple solution to the risk of shoppers in Sainsbury’s being exposed to poisonous and hysterical Express headlines as they queue to buy lottery tickets (“The Express keeps digging” by Liz Gerard, TNE #403)?
Just nonchalantly place a copy of the New European over the offending article (it works for unsavoury Mail or Sun headlines too).
The offensive headlines are completely hidden by the larger newspaper, and if an Express/Mail/Sun reader is so determined to seek out their usual rag, they have to first come into contact with the more edifying cover picture and headlines of this illustrious publication.
James Croft, Bridgnorth, Shropshire
Something fishy
James Ball was absolutely right in “The promise he should have broken” (TNE #403). Attempting to rejoin the single market at this stage would falter on the rocks of Nigel Farage’s stirring of the immigration pot, but rejoining a customs union with the EU is a viable and attainable staging post.
I find that benefits expressed in billions of pounds are beyond the grasp of many people. The financial benefit needs to be expressed in terms of the advantages to individuals.
The sovereignty argument was always a red herring – we never lost it.
Labour need to get these arguments out there. As things stand, there is no chance of the government of an isolated Britain having the revenue or investment to improve people’s lives.
Rex Nesbit
