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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/02/manchester-city-united-arab-emirates-matthew-hedges
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| Manchester City fans are not alone in this Faustian pact | Manchester City fans are not alone in this Faustian pact |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| As a lifelong Manchester City supporter and season ticket holder (even in the days when we were penniless in the third tier), I read with interest David Olusoga’s article on the use of our club as a vehicle for UAE soft power and the moral issues it throws up for supporters in the light of the Matthew Hedges case (“What price football and books when an innocent man is jailed in the UAE?”, Comment). | As a lifelong Manchester City supporter and season ticket holder (even in the days when we were penniless in the third tier), I read with interest David Olusoga’s article on the use of our club as a vehicle for UAE soft power and the moral issues it throws up for supporters in the light of the Matthew Hedges case (“What price football and books when an innocent man is jailed in the UAE?”, Comment). |
| While the article raises uncomfortable moral choices when football clubs are linked with odious regimes, it is unfair to claim that a majority of City fans defend the UAE and its legal system and to single them out as uniquely morally bankrupt participants in a Faustian pact. | While the article raises uncomfortable moral choices when football clubs are linked with odious regimes, it is unfair to claim that a majority of City fans defend the UAE and its legal system and to single them out as uniquely morally bankrupt participants in a Faustian pact. |
| What Olusoga’s observations highlight is just how dangerous a place the moral high ground is and that moral relativism is not the sole preserve of some City supporters. Do we equally condemn the UK government and workers when Gulf states buy huge quantities of arms to oppress their own and neighbouring people or a UK racing industry heavily dependent on Gulf cash? | What Olusoga’s observations highlight is just how dangerous a place the moral high ground is and that moral relativism is not the sole preserve of some City supporters. Do we equally condemn the UK government and workers when Gulf states buy huge quantities of arms to oppress their own and neighbouring people or a UK racing industry heavily dependent on Gulf cash? |
| I am sure we will be watching the 2022 World Cup in stadiums built on the exploitation of migrant workers, while wearing replica outfits produced in sweatshops in China and Bangladesh. | I am sure we will be watching the 2022 World Cup in stadiums built on the exploitation of migrant workers, while wearing replica outfits produced in sweatshops in China and Bangladesh. |
| On the wider issue of the ownership of football clubs, how wonderful it would it be to send packing the oligarchs, the sovereign wealth funds and assorted venture capitalists trading on, as Olusoga rightly observes, the visceral emotional compact between clubs and their supporters and adopt the German model of fan-based ownership.David CroninStockport | On the wider issue of the ownership of football clubs, how wonderful it would it be to send packing the oligarchs, the sovereign wealth funds and assorted venture capitalists trading on, as Olusoga rightly observes, the visceral emotional compact between clubs and their supporters and adopt the German model of fan-based ownership.David CroninStockport |
| I watched the Channel 4 coverage of the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix. | I watched the Channel 4 coverage of the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix. |
| There was nothing to indicate that this was the same country that imprisoned UK citizen Matthew Hedges for life after a five-minute trial. Several drivers and teams (and, presumably, fans) from the UK were taking part, but not a mention of Hedges and no “Free Matthew” stickers or flags to be seen. No wonder the UAE think we are paper tigers and concludes that they can do what they like to our citizens.Geoff Cowie Bletchley, Milton Keynes | There was nothing to indicate that this was the same country that imprisoned UK citizen Matthew Hedges for life after a five-minute trial. Several drivers and teams (and, presumably, fans) from the UK were taking part, but not a mention of Hedges and no “Free Matthew” stickers or flags to be seen. No wonder the UAE think we are paper tigers and concludes that they can do what they like to our citizens.Geoff Cowie Bletchley, Milton Keynes |
| Red in tooth and claw | Red in tooth and claw |
| “Rewilding is about nature taking the lead, rather than managing nature,” says a supporter of rewilding (“Can the pine marten help forest animals flourish once more?” News). | “Rewilding is about nature taking the lead, rather than managing nature,” says a supporter of rewilding (“Can the pine marten help forest animals flourish once more?” News). |
| He then promptly ignores the fact that in the Forest of Dean “nature” unequivocally favours grey squirrels over the red ones; oak, the predominant tree species, provides food that is highly palatable for the grey, but not for the red, bushy-tailed rodent. Given that both types of squirrel play the same role in the ecosystem, that neither species of squirrel is endangered in the rest of the world and that neither is properly native to the UK (most red squirrels here are, genetically, products of very recent Scandinavian imports), is it really worth introducing a standalone predator, the pine marten, which is potentially very unpopular with farmers, in the hope that one squirrel species will be eradicated and the other one brought in?Natalia DoranLondon SW15 | He then promptly ignores the fact that in the Forest of Dean “nature” unequivocally favours grey squirrels over the red ones; oak, the predominant tree species, provides food that is highly palatable for the grey, but not for the red, bushy-tailed rodent. Given that both types of squirrel play the same role in the ecosystem, that neither species of squirrel is endangered in the rest of the world and that neither is properly native to the UK (most red squirrels here are, genetically, products of very recent Scandinavian imports), is it really worth introducing a standalone predator, the pine marten, which is potentially very unpopular with farmers, in the hope that one squirrel species will be eradicated and the other one brought in?Natalia DoranLondon SW15 |
| Common complaint | Common complaint |
| The article on “poor doors” (“Poor doors are still creating wealth divide in new housing”, News) called to mind the response of Harry Graham (1874–1936), a writer of humorous verse, to a report in the Daily Mail about an estate agent’s objection to his clients in a Jermyn Street apartment block having to share the lift with the postman: “Was it for this I had to pay/ Three hundred pounds a year?/ I never shall forget the day/ A relative arrived to stay/ (First cousin to a peer);/ My word! How Aunt Eliza sniff’d!/ She met a postman in the lift!/ ‘What!’ she demanded, ‘must I ride/ With common men like him?’/ She drew her scornful skirts aside,/ Her smelling-bottle she applied./ She shook from every limb./ ‘Be good enough,’ she said, ‘to sift/ The lower orders from the lift!’” | The article on “poor doors” (“Poor doors are still creating wealth divide in new housing”, News) called to mind the response of Harry Graham (1874–1936), a writer of humorous verse, to a report in the Daily Mail about an estate agent’s objection to his clients in a Jermyn Street apartment block having to share the lift with the postman: “Was it for this I had to pay/ Three hundred pounds a year?/ I never shall forget the day/ A relative arrived to stay/ (First cousin to a peer);/ My word! How Aunt Eliza sniff’d!/ She met a postman in the lift!/ ‘What!’ she demanded, ‘must I ride/ With common men like him?’/ She drew her scornful skirts aside,/ Her smelling-bottle she applied./ She shook from every limb./ ‘Be good enough,’ she said, ‘to sift/ The lower orders from the lift!’” |
| A century on and, unlike the cost of West End rentals, social attitudes apparently remain unchanged.Ian WishartChislehurst, Bromley | A century on and, unlike the cost of West End rentals, social attitudes apparently remain unchanged.Ian WishartChislehurst, Bromley |
| Taking a stand on lavatories | Taking a stand on lavatories |
| Joanna Lumley’s campaign for more women’s lavatories and her suggestion to storm the men’s loos (“She won’t take shortage of ladies’ loos sitting down”, Comment) has a precedent. | Joanna Lumley’s campaign for more women’s lavatories and her suggestion to storm the men’s loos (“She won’t take shortage of ladies’ loos sitting down”, Comment) has a precedent. |
| I remember the women-only queues snaking round the service stations by Greenham Common during the mass protests of the 1980s. The few males present slunk away in the face of this mass occupation of their territory.Val MainwoodWivenhoe, Colchester | I remember the women-only queues snaking round the service stations by Greenham Common during the mass protests of the 1980s. The few males present slunk away in the face of this mass occupation of their territory.Val MainwoodWivenhoe, Colchester |
| The price of fishing | The price of fishing |
| With regard to your “View from the ports” article about Brexit (“Fishermen’s hopes of a rescue are dashed”, News), the nearest continental fishing ports to Whitby are in the Netherlands, about 250 miles away. | With regard to your “View from the ports” article about Brexit (“Fishermen’s hopes of a rescue are dashed”, News), the nearest continental fishing ports to Whitby are in the Netherlands, about 250 miles away. |
| So a Dutch fishing boat will face a 500-mile round trip in order to fish the waters on fisherman Richard Brewer’s Yorkshire doorstep. It’s a pity that your reporters didn’t ask Mr Brewer to explain how he thought “continental fleets [fishing in] British waters” can meet the costs of such long voyages and still make a profit, when he finds that fishing locally is, apparently, unprofitable.Paul TempleMilton Keynes | So a Dutch fishing boat will face a 500-mile round trip in order to fish the waters on fisherman Richard Brewer’s Yorkshire doorstep. It’s a pity that your reporters didn’t ask Mr Brewer to explain how he thought “continental fleets [fishing in] British waters” can meet the costs of such long voyages and still make a profit, when he finds that fishing locally is, apparently, unprofitable.Paul TempleMilton Keynes |
| Future imperfect | Future imperfect |
| One way to test the likelihood of any prediction is to look at those made in the past (“Mars is lovely at this time of year: life in 2050”, Magazine). | One way to test the likelihood of any prediction is to look at those made in the past (“Mars is lovely at this time of year: life in 2050”, Magazine). |
| My childhood in the 1950s and early 60s was awash with pundits telling me what life in the 21st century would be like. Almost none of them came within a mile. | My childhood in the 1950s and early 60s was awash with pundits telling me what life in the 21st century would be like. Almost none of them came within a mile. |
| In addition, all of your prophets quoted today were really talking about what might be available for a small elite in some 30 years’ time. When you consider that of the 7.5 billion humans currently on the planet, about 6 billion don’t even have plumbing, it is hard to see how a mere 30 years is going to transform their lot to holidaying on Mars or growing babies in tanks.Francis BlakeLondon N17 | In addition, all of your prophets quoted today were really talking about what might be available for a small elite in some 30 years’ time. When you consider that of the 7.5 billion humans currently on the planet, about 6 billion don’t even have plumbing, it is hard to see how a mere 30 years is going to transform their lot to holidaying on Mars or growing babies in tanks.Francis BlakeLondon N17 |
| Help for the homeless | Help for the homeless |
| As you rightly say in your editorial (“Homelessness is not inevitable, it’s the product of a political choice”), rough sleeping is an urgent, and potentially deadly, issue for those who have to do it. | As you rightly say in your editorial (“Homelessness is not inevitable, it’s the product of a political choice”), rough sleeping is an urgent, and potentially deadly, issue for those who have to do it. |
| Of those thousands who are destitute, there is another category though: people who have had a positive decision on their asylum claim, being given the right to remain in the UK. It is good news, but suddenly, after what can be many years of waiting, they have under 28 days to vacate the property they have been living in. | Of those thousands who are destitute, there is another category though: people who have had a positive decision on their asylum claim, being given the right to remain in the UK. It is good news, but suddenly, after what can be many years of waiting, they have under 28 days to vacate the property they have been living in. |
| They have very little time to find somewhere they can afford, at the same time as trying to sort out work and benefits. Rough sleeping is often the option and naturally that does not help their quest for work. | They have very little time to find somewhere they can afford, at the same time as trying to sort out work and benefits. Rough sleeping is often the option and naturally that does not help their quest for work. |
| Increasing the time to vacate a property to at least 60 days, and longer for those who are vulnerable, would make a big difference and would be a better start for those wanting to make a positive contribution to life in the UK.Suzanne FletcherEaglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees | Increasing the time to vacate a property to at least 60 days, and longer for those who are vulnerable, would make a big difference and would be a better start for those wanting to make a positive contribution to life in the UK.Suzanne FletcherEaglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees |
| United Arab Emirates | United Arab Emirates |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| Manchester City | Manchester City |
| Middle East and North Africa | Middle East and North Africa |
| letters | letters |
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