From Mr Richard Sweet
Sir, - I am not the first correspondent to point out that an
article by Dr Alan Storkey contains significantly more passion than
clear thinking; but his essay on the evils of national
self-interest (Comment, 11 January)
was an excellent example of the kind.
First, there was the rampant and unquestioning Europhilia: our
European cousins are apparently living in a whirl of intermingled
politics and languages, happily bailing each other out. Really? The
last time Angela Merkel visited Greece, she was met by 50,000
protesters burning German flags. Riots in Madrid, Lisbon, Paris,
and Brussels last November - principally against austerity measures
and staggering levels of unemployment - perhaps show that this
utopian vision is some way off.
Then there was the assumption that it is only we boorish Brits
(I particularly liked the line about fish and chips and drunkenness
in Spain) who stoop to self-interest - in contrast with the
high-minded and altruistic French, Germans, and Italians. And there
was I thinking that the French had engaged in all sorts of dodgy
alliances and arms trading across North Africa and the Middle East;
that the Italians had been somewhat inventive in assessing their
levels of debt when entering the single currency; and that the
Germans had used a favourable exchange rate (to them) to export
their products around the world - and joblessness to Mediterranean
Europe.
I apparently suffer from "intellectual confusion" when I think
that the UK's staying out of the euro was in the national interest,
and should note that Conservative and UKIP supporters have no
moral, intellectual, or Christian basis for their international
policies. Wow!
Dr Storkey and I would strongly agree that we Christians have a
vision of an interconnected world which transcends national
boundaries and interests. His article does no justice to this view
by being so incoherently argued and so virulently partisan. He
accuses Christians of accepting too readily "ideological claptrap".
His essay is a fine example of exactly that.
RICHARD SWEET
57 Ritherdon Road
London SW17 8QE