IoS letters, emails and online postings (29 November 2015)

John Lichfield’s eulogy about Paris should not obscure the regrettable decision by President François Hollande to ban all marches and protest meetings at the upcoming United Nations summit on climate change (“Paris declares itself battered – but still afloat”, 22 November). I thought the idea was that life should go on as normal; certainly that was the message surrounding the friendly football match between England and France; so why cancel the democratic part of a summit that is likely to determine the future of human civilisation? And why have French climate activists been placed under house arrest?

Perhaps the French security forces have not changed much since 1985, when the French secret service blew up the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, killing a Portuguese photographer in the process. People should ask themselves who represents the greater threat to democracy, and to the planet.

Dr Robin Russell-Jones

Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire

DJ Taylor is right to be concerned about the psychological consequences of an “endlessly connected 24/7 world” and is justified in seeing this in the context of the “swindle of the economic model” (“Is the mighty Apple rotten at the core?”, 22 November).

Connectedness, like the myth of “choice”, is no more than a neo-liberal construct designed to establish us as consumers. “Choice” makes us dependent on things, and connectedness makes us dependent on each other and on the means of connection, but not in healthy and liberating ways. Sometimes we need things and sometimes we need each other, but we also need to learn resilience, resourcefulness and independence, none of which can be achieved by being endlessly connected to other people. As DJ Taylor concludes, what we are losing is individual will and personal identity.

Andrew Colley

Halstead, Essex

It is surely poor journalism for Dom Joly to refer to the Guyanese as having an embassy (“Never has North Korea seemed so attractive”, 22 November). As a Commonwealth country they have never had an embassy. His slack piece was ironically preceded by a rare if sadly critical article by Joan Smith about the Commonwealth, revealing the large number of members which do not legislate for equality.

But when a valuable organisation is ignored, or taken for granted, is this part of the problem? When was our help to Sierra Leone in the Ebola outbreak stated as a commitment to a Commonwealth member? The media frequently cite examples of good practice by Australia, New Zealand, Canada etc, but fail to mention that it may be because they are Commonwealth members. As for trade, when it is revealed that Belgium does more business with India than ourselves the height of the problem is revealed.

Leslie Freitag

Harpenden, Hertfordshire

“We do not have to choose between Assad and Isis,” said the Defence Secretary Michael Fallon. Yes we do, and we have. When Isis fought Kurdish Syrian fighters for the city of Kobani, the Americans intervened and Kobani stayed in Kurdish hands. When Isis fought the Syrian Army for the city of Palmyra, America did nothing and it is now under Isis control.

Brendan O’Brien

London N21

In “The Top Ten” section of The New Review (22 November) John Rentoul proudly boasts “And no, there’s no Bob Dylan. Editor’s privilege” Yet “All Along the Watchtower” sits proudly at No 5. Do your homework, John.

Mike Lisle

Crosby, Lancashire

I would like to point out that my father Bunny Austin (The Big Read, Sport, 22 November) never became an American citizen. He was concerned about the prospect of war, but was not a pacifist and served in the United States army.

John Austin

via email