Correspondence

newstatesman.com/letters
Visions of England
About time that the Labour Party looked seriously at its guiding philosophy (Voice of the heartlands, 4 April). For too long weve been subjected to pious platitudes on fairness. Maurice Glasmans concern for the politics of the common good could contribute to the social contract that the electorate yearns for. Peter Sheal Aberdeenshire Jon Cruddas praises the value of the ordinary, including our post offices (Raising the dead, 4 April). How ironic that your illustration is of Lechlades indispensable post office, now, with our library, threatened by those whose dull calculus attaches no value to these foundation stones of our community. Keith Salway Lechlade, Gloucestershire I am very happy to read agonised articles on what it means to be English (or Cornish or Japanese), but I do wonder about the future of the UK when a mainstream New Statesman article refers to Scotland as the Celtic fringe (Family, faith and flag, 4 April). Martin Axford Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire I see the things that are actually unique about England warrant no mention in your issue on Englishness. I refer, of course, to cask-conditioned beer and unpasteurised cheeses. Keith Flett London N17

OPEN LETTER

Supporting freedom of speech and WikiLeaks

We believe that free societies everywhere are best served by journalism that holds governments and corporations to account. We assert that the right to publish is equal to, and the consequence of, the citizens right to know. While we believe in personal privacy and accept a need for confidentiality, we hold that disclosure in the public interest is paramount. Liberty, accountability and true democratic choice can only be guaranteed by rigorous scrutiny. We defend the right to publish the truth responsibly without obstruction and persecution by the state. The primary duty of journalists everywhere is to advance the cause of understanding, not to assist governments and powerful interests in suppressing information, and never to defer to ingrained habits of secrecy. With these principles in mind, we declare our support for the publication of documents released through leaks. They have cast significant light on the behaviour of governments and corporations in the modern world. WikiLeaks has done the world great service. We strenuously denounce the threats of death and criminal prosecution of its director for publishing, together with many organisations throughout the world, information that is clearly in the public interest. Those in authority routinely oppose such disclosure, as they have done since the struggle to publish the proceedings of the British parliament over 200 years ago right through to the release of the Pentagon Papers. We believe no democracy has ever been harmed by an increase in the publics knowledge and understanding. Therefore, we, the undersigned, declare our unyielding support for the principles of journalistic inquiry and openness, and condemn the forces that threaten both. Signed along with many others: Lisa Appignanesi, John Berger, Fatima Bhutto, Rachel Billington, Rosie Boycott, Heather Brooke, Noam Chomsky, Patrick Cockburn, Steve Coogan, Jeremy Dear, Molly Dineen, Ariel Dorfman, David Edgar, Daniel Ellsberg, Bill Emmott, Richard Eyre, John Kampfner, Woody Harrelson, Sue Hollick, Hugh Hudson, Will Hutton, Helena Kennedy, Imran Khan, Phillip Knightley, Hanif Kureishi, Mike Leigh, Kim Longinotto, Edward McMillanScott, Terry McDonell, Michael Moore, Philip Pullman, David Puttnam, Salman Rushdie, Richard Sambrook, Susan Sarandon, Alexandra Shulman, Tom Stoppard, Oliver Stone, Laura Wade, Marina Warner, A N Wilson Presented by: The Frontline Club Supported by: OpenDemocracy, Reporters Without Borders, The Newspaper Guild (Communications Workers of America), International Federation of Journalists, English PEN, Article 19 Open Letter Committee: Anthony Barnett, Charles Glass, Roger Graef, Rachel Johnson, Jemima Khan, Henry Porter, Elaine Potter, Tony Curzon Price, Pranvera Smith, Vaughan Smith (chair). To sign, please go to wikileaksopenletter.com

Abort missionaries
Laurie Penny (The shames all theirs, 4 April) risks being distracted from a much more effective, and insidious, threat to reproductive rights. This is the proposal in the current Health and Social Care Bill for responsibility for commissioning sexual heath services (including termination of pregnancy) to be given to local authorities in England. This is an open invitation to the religious right to enter local politics in order to restrict access to family planning. Donald Roy London SW15

Facts of life
Julie Bindel claims that pro-life organisations in the UK are adopting extreme American campaign tactics, such as picketing sexual health clinics and intimidating women out of having abortions(The politics of choice, 17 January). As national director of Right to Life, which she briefly mentions, I must put the record straight when it comes to Bindels inaccurate account. Right to Life is a secular, pro-life lobby group that has never organised a picket of any abortion clinic in this country, nor engaged in the intimidation of pregnant women. We simply lobby government for pro-life amendments to law and policy. Phyllis Bowman Via email
l Send letters for publication to letters@newstatesman.co.uk, fax to 020 7305 7304 or to the address on page 3. We reserve the right to edit letters and to publish a further selection on our website.

6 | NEW STATESMAN | 11 APRIL 2011