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Letters are welcome by email to [email protected]
Incentives to work
Although there was a carrot for people who had been tested for covid-19 in Slovakia’s mass testing program, there was also a strong stick (“Scouse Lessons,” November 21). The carrot for those who were tested and found negative was access to freedoms and exemptions from an otherwise stringent curfew. But employees who did not take the national test had to self-isolate, in effect, and could not go to work. If they were unable to provide any other negative test certificates to their employer, they had to stay home and take annual or unpaid leave. However, if they took part and tested positive, they could apply for sick leave, but still had to isolate themselves with the whole family.
This carrot and stick approach led to a 95% turnout for the national test, helping Slovakia halve its prevalence of covid-19 in just one week.
KRISTINA LONDAKOVA
London
Turning left
I absolutely disagree that the German Christian Democratic Union is a “center-right” party (“The long goodbye”, 31 October). This may have been true in the early Merkel era. Nowadays, however, both the CDU and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria have lost any kind of sustainable trait of conservatism.
The euro has been turned into political football, immigration laws and regulations are a mess, defense, national security and other areas important to conservatives are in disarray. BORN and the wider European alliance are in pieces. Even worse, a radicalized party, which has evolved from a down-to-earth, liberal-minded opposition to Angela Merkel, has managed to establish itself permanently across the country.
Conservative parties have turned into rather leftist marketers. Their main goal is to retain power and celebrate “ethical” views, instead of driving the country and Europe forward. Unfortunately, Richard von Weizsäcker’s assessment of Helmut Kohl’s turn towards a self-centered political focus was made substantial during the Merkel years.
It is time for Mrs Merkel to step down. Bold new leadership is needed to provide answers and solutions on how Germany will make a living in the near future and how it will play a geostrategic role. The stakes are very high.
JOHANNES WARBECK
Augsburg, Germany
Women and the vote
Banyan has granted New Zealand the honor of being “the first place in the world to vote for women” (November 7). It was 1893. In 1869 the American territory of Wyoming gave the vote to women, as did the territory of Utah in 1870, even if only for a few years.
In what is now Canada some women voted as early as 1793, not because British common law said they could, but because it didn’t say they couldn’t. The Canadian legislatures closed that loophole, but in 1873 female property owners in British Columbia gained the right to vote in municipal elections.
CEC JENNINGS
Toronto
Talk all you want
Much of the discussion on social media and free speech makes no distinction between free speech and the right to be heard (“The great clean-up,” Oct. 24). Freedom of speech is protected, but the right to be heard is not. Speakers were never guaranteed a platform for their views until the arrival of social media. Now everyone has a chance to be heard.
But denying access to anti-vaxxers, for example, would in no way limit their right to free speech. They would still have all the free speech they enjoyed before Facebook was created. They can talk to their neighbors, write letters, call people on the phone, publish brochures, organize petitions, and even start their own social media platforms.
TREVOR SCHINDELER
North Bay, Canada
The distinction between free speech and free publication is that I am free to write abusive messages. I am free to send them to editors and publishers. However, they are under no obligation to print my diatribes. Not even Facebook or Twitter.
ADAM ISLER
New York
Handle with Care
I was puzzled by your refusal to admit that the Traveling Wilburys didn’t just include George Harrison and Bob Dylan (“Greenbacks for green”, October 31). Weren’t Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty even worthy of an “among the others” after mentioning a former Beatle and a Nobel laureate?
ANDREW GUSH
Chicago
Singaporean food peddlers
Food hawker centers are Singapore’s community dining halls and offer diverse food at affordable prices (“Out of the New,” Oct. 31). In fact, Singaporeans have such a passion for food that we have named the culture of street vendors to include as a UNESCO Intangible cultural heritage. UNESCOThe assessment body recently recommended enrollment.
Our hawker centers were first built in the 1970s, providing hawkers with a more hygienic environment. We stopped building new centers in 1985 and started again in 2012. This partly explains the low rents of older generation hawkers and the high average age of those who work in the centers. The government began offering training programs in 2013 to attract new hawkers to the trade, along with heavily subsidized rates and stall rentals. The operators of the new hawker centers also run programs to support new entrants. The results have been promising.
The average age of new street vendors since 2013 is 46, much lower than the national median. Many enterprising young street vendors have gone beyond selling traditional dishes to offer Western and other fusion foods. We expect the average age to decline further.
These efforts will support trade and keep Singapore’s hawker culture thriving for future generations.
TK LIM
High Commissioner of Singapore
London
Train of thought
It was no surprise to discover in Bartleby’s column on psychometric tests that introverts are the best train drivers (November 7). I drive trains on urban passenger lines and love my autonomous mobile “office” with no one to report to (unless something happens to the passengers, train or track infrastructure). My breaks between trips are dedicated to reading The Economist, as well as other literary material carried in a cloth bag. The best times to catch up on unread back issues are unexpected delays, which can last for hours. I prefer to have The Economist keep me company on another human’s train.
EUGENE ANTHONY
Perth, Australia
Bitcoin’s new romantics
At the risk of being out of place like jeans and a T.-shirt at London’s Blitz club on a Tuesday night I feel Buttonwood left the main question unanswered: Did Steve Strange have bitcoins? (“Blitz-coin”, October 31st.)
STUART SMITH
Maastricht, the Netherlands
This article appeared in the Letters section of the print edition with the title “On covid tests, Germany, women’s suffrage, free speech, rock stars, Singapore, trains, bitcoin”
