Letters: progressive alliances can work, and here’s how

Nick Cohen makes a persuasive case for unity candidates to overcome Tory electoral hegemony, at least in England, but an alliance needs to be based on a firmer foundation than simply a desire to get the Tories out (“Mock progressive alliances all you like, but they’ve never been more essential”, Comment). There are at least three prerequisites: an acceptance, principally by the Labour leadership, that an overall Labour majority at the next election is mathematically implausible; agreement with the Lib Dems and Greens on a minimum common programme that will be sufficiently attractive to the core voters of each party to convince them to set differences aside; and cooperation between the activists of the local parties in constituencies where the numbers suggest two of them should withdraw.

Almost certainly, a fairer voting system would have to be an outcome of any such unity government, preferably combining the constituency link with a proportional top-up, as in the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, and backed by a constitutional convention to ensure popular support. Such a radical change cannot be achieved by a last-minute stitch up or the usual exhortations to vote tactically.
Dr Anthony Isaacs
London NW3

Can I add a modest example from local government to Nick Cohen’s thoughtful article in favour of progressive alliances? Swale borough council is led by a “rainbow alliance” of five groups – Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens and two independent groups. Since 2019, we have successfully followed an agreed progressive agenda that focuses on tackling local inequality, providing more affordable homes, climate change and engaging more seriously with the community and voluntary sector.

Electoral success did not come from explicit pacts, but each party went into the 2019 elections with a well-informed awareness of others’ target seats. Within our coalition, the need for tolerance is a strength and our only concerns come from party tribalism outside our council groups.

Roger Truelove, leader of Swale borough council
Sittingbourne, Kent

Rigg remembered

It was wonderful to see the lovely article about the late, great Dame Diana Rigg (“‘Ma didn’t suffer fools: she exploded them at 50 paces’”, The New Review). But, with her clever line – “no one ever sat on my ma” – Rachael Stirling somewhat inadvertently misled people as to the availability of memorial plaques at the Actors’ Church in Covent Garden.

It is actually space for benches in the garden that we have run out of. Great stars of the profession are still awarded memorial plaques – and a very beautiful one has been installed in memory of Rigg.

We also have a memorial book and can now dedicate our brand new pews – comfy at last! – to members of the profession. In this way, we hope we will be able to continue to remember the stars of our profession for many decades to come.
The Rev Simon Grigg, rector
St Paul’s Church
London WC2

We need a local paper

As a long-term resident of Harlow, I think a big barrier to cohesion in this sprawling town (“Revealed: the towns at risk from far-right extremism”, News) is the absence of a proper local newspaper, the sort of newspaper that includes obituaries, club news and civil announcements.

The online offering of local news lacks the opportunity of lucky finds. So if a resident in one part of the town has no knowledge of the happenings in another, apathy, it seems, is all too easy.
Elaine McCarthy
Harlow, Essex

Bring back joy to the office

Torsten Bell is right to point out the value of control and respect in our careers (“A good job is about much more than pay. Workers also value respect”, Comment). But it’s not necessarily the job itself that is the deciding factor. It’s the ways in which roles are controlled that has disillusioned people.

Human resources management has squeezed out the joy that used to be found in the workplace. Its practices shackle employees to an assembly line of appraisals, targets and endless data collection to prove their worth to the organisation.

Perhaps employers could attract more high-calibre employees by eliminating the stultifying performance culture. Returning control and respect to employees could improve their quality of life; for the employer, it could improve retention, thus cutting employment costs, and raise productivity through the enhanced motivation of a happy staff.
Yvonne Williams
Ryde, Isle of Wight

Too many flying visits

How horrifying, at the beginning of Cop26, to read in Séamas O’Reilly’s column that his young son has already made a dozen journeys by plane (“Flight might be a fantasy, but to my three-year-old, a bus beats a plane any day”, The New Review).

I know it can be difficult when families are separated, but there is a ferry between England and Northern Ireland. And if that doesn’t suit, perhaps a sacrifice or two could be made by reducing the number of visits to family abroad; we do have phones and Zoom. Perhaps Séamas could begin to teach his son the link between transport and climate change. After all, it is his little boy’s future that is at stake.
Laraine Thompson
Tamworth, Staffordshire

Nature knows best

In your article on tree planting (“‘How can we grow new forests if we don’t have enough trees to plant?’”, News), I was surprised to see no mention of the obvious solution… rewilding.

If land is left to its own devices, it will pass through successional stages and eventually become forest all by itself. It’s cheap, efficient and ecologically coherent, more so than planting millions of young trees that need care and management. Tree planting makes us feel good, but nature has been planting her own forests for millennia. She just needs the space to do so.
Miranda Davies, Wychwood Forest Trust, Kidlington, Oxfordshire

My miaow for Margaret

If there is such a thing as reincarnation, then I would like to return as a future cat of a reincarnated Margaret Atwood, just so long as Margaret Atwood is reincarnated as Margaret Atwood, of course, and providing, of course, that Margaret Atwood doesn’t disapprove of me being her cat (“Cats, a love story”, The New Review).
Stefan Badham
Portsmouth