In 1982, when I was having a bit of an existential crisis while campaigning for nuclear disarmament and heavily pregnant, my father-in-law related the story of a neighbour who’d shot dead his wife, children and himself during the Cuba crisis because he couldn’t face the prospect of inevitable nuclear war. “He could have been enjoying his grandchildren now.”

Climate change (It’s the end of the Earth as we know it, Comment) appears to momentous, and not withstanding the depressing (and logical) thoughts that it’s too late, too complex, too difficult and so forth, I still reckon it’s a good strategy to act as if changes in human behaviour, individual and collective, on any scale – massive and radical would be good options – might make a difference. A growing body of scientific researchers, journalists, activists, politicians, ethical lifestylers and eco-warriors keeps going “despite”.

My personal perspective is that there’s not a lot of positive gain in saying it’s a pointless endeavour. The physicist Niels Bohr said something along the lines that predicition is difficult, especially when it’s about the future. If we give up in despair now, we may not be in a position to “enjoy our grandchildren”. I would guess that multiple catastrophes are inevitable; it’s a question of what kind of catastrophes are we facing, can we mitigate/prevent any of them, and what would we like to make happen instead? Perhaps over the next few centuries, Anthropocene doesn’t have to have its current negative connotation if we commit to improving our meaning-making, attitudes and choices about stewardship of “our” planet.

Online Contribution (Somerset Jen)

We have all moved on from Richard Dawkins’s fundamentalism, aeons ago (“Intelligent design? How come He made so many blunders?” Comment).

Dawkins’ theistic God died with Friedrich Nietzsche. God is no longer a noun. Uncertainty (which includes pain, suffering and death, along with all other so-called “imperfections”) is now seen as part of the game, just as language contains redundancy in order to get the message across. In science, it is called quantum physics; you just don’t know what is going to happen from second to second, just like life! Perfectionism (and all that sin stuff) went out with traditional Christianity. Both in quantum physics and in the new Christianity, relationship is all the rage.

Things only exist because of their relationship to each other; life only exists because of relationships between living creatures.

Grenville Gilbert

Ottery St Mary, Devon

Robin McKie deployed a well-worn argument against intelligent design: creation is flawed, therefore there can be no Creator. I would have thought the implicational relationship between such statements is hardly necessary and sufficient. Evangelical atheists need to learn from evangelical Leavers: unintelligent confusion does not work.

The Rev David Black

Tilston, Cheshire

A failsafe system for data



I applaud Evgeny Morozov for his, once again, insightful analysis of the challenge of regaining control of our data from the technology behemoths (“There is a leftwing way to challenge big tech over our data. Here it is”, Comment).

The combination of citizen control of data and appropriately regulated access by democratically accountable entities, where the use of data can make a real difference, be that by a council or city, is compelling. However, one challenge will be data portability. Is data retained or does it move with the individual? If it is retained, then data can continue to be exploited for the benefit of remaining citizens, but that comes with the gradual erosion of an individual’s ability to control their data and understand how it is used. This conflict is not insurmountable, but must be overcome if the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon aren’t supplanted by the likes of London, Birmingham and Manchester.

Neil Macehiter

Great Shelford, Cambridge

A bridge too far...



I think you are a little hard on the bridge designer Riccardo Morandi when comparing the disaster in Genoa with that of another of his bridges, at Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela in the 1960s (“Amid the hunt for culprits, Genoa’s tragedy points to a malaise at Italy’s heart”, Comment). The bridges are remarkably similar, but the circumstances totally different. It would be an amazing design that could withstand an oil tanker at speed, as happened at Maracaibo.

Alan Sugarman

West Chiltington, West Sussex

Buying a better education?



I don’t understand in what way William Miller thinks he supports state education while sending his children to fee-paying schools (“ I’d worked so hard to get away from the scrutiny of my father…”, Observer magazine). Perhaps he tells himself he is easing overcrowding or raising the bar. Wealthier parents buying better-resourced education for their children is so unfair as to be antisocial.



Dave Hayward

Kenilworth, Warwickshire

Marxism today



Anne McElvoy, as a senior editor of the Economist, would, one assume, be clear headed and objective. Yet she finds difficulty checking the rush of blood to the head when trying to scan the world beyond the comfortable status quo (“US Democrats are struggling to make sense of a socialist surge”, Comment). Several emotional semantic slips destroy her attempts at objectivity. Instead of an increase in membership of the Labour party, she gives us “an insurgent grab”. Instead of a “manifesto”, she prefers to call it “siren songs” and the content is just “stuff” that she propagandises as “free”, though they’re fully costed. She also falsely assumes that Marxism failed, whereas Karl Marx never laid out a blueprint for government.

E Jones

Eastington, Gloucestershire

A truly natural woman



I agree with Sean O’Hagan that Aretha Franklin’s pain and heartbreak were transmuted into song (“Aretha: heartbreak and hope, struggle and inspiration”, Focus).

Her legacy will be a uniquely beautiful and expressive voice that moved everyone who heard it to tears and turned every song she sang, most of which were not written by her, into soul. And unlike Madonna, Aretha Franklin did not need gimmicks or continuously to reinvent herself. She made me feel like a natural human.



Stan Labovitch



Windsor

Brexiteers on prejudice

It’s interesting that, according to the Opinium poll reported in last week’s Observer (Labour suspends ex-MP over antisemitism row, News), the percentage of the total number of voters believing the Labour party is prejudiced against British Jews is almost identical to the percentage of the total number of voters who wanted to leave the EU. Something the Labour leadership might reflect on the next time it considers repeating Jeremy Corbyn’s “the British people have spoken... we must respect that result” line.

David Clarke

Bristol

Pooh at the Pole



Winnie the Pooh and co went on an Expotition, not “expertition” – in what were they experts (Christopher Robin film review, New Review).

Gill Hallifax

London NW6