Econ_May_05_2018

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18 The Economist May 5th 2018
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Reporting on Trump
Lexington’s column on the FBI
raiding the office of President
Trump’s lawyer did not men-
tion some salient facts (April
14th), notably the issues associ-
atedwith attorney-client
privilege. If lawyers can have
their offices ransacked and
then be subject to prosecutions
forwhat is discovered, what
effect will this have on repre-
sentation for difficult cases?
Nor did the columnmention
the asymmetry of how
attorney-client privilegewas
used in the FBI’s timid in-
vestigation ofHillaryClinton’s
e-mail server, specifically in
the case of the testimony of
her chief of staff. Finally, there
was no discussion of howfar
afield Robert Mueller, the
special counsel, has taken the
focus of his investigation
comparedwith the original
remit ofRussian influence.
If you don’t like this presi-
dent, fine. Lots of us don’t and
there is plenty of legitimate
ammunition to discuss. Now,
however, you are feeding the
narrative that themainstream
media is just hopelessly
biased. This leads to a general
discounting of your reporting.
People just stopwatching or
readingwhat youwrite. There
is also somethingworse. What
goes around eventually comes
around. What will you say
when the attorney’s office of a
politician ofwhomyou
approve gets ransacked by his
political opponents?
STEPHEN ARBOGAST
Professor of the practice of
finance
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
Your lament forwhat the
Republican Party has become
was, if anything, toomild
(“How the elephant got its
Trump”, April 21st). It has be-
come the party of lies and
xenophobia, of irresponsibil-
ity andmoral corruption,
fetishising blind loyalty to a
very badman. Beseeching
responsible Republicans to
resist thismisses themark,
when you indicate that the
party is irredeemable. What
they should do is quit, as I did
after 53 years of active commit-
ment. I cannot associatemy-
selfwith today’s Republican-
ism. I amheartbroken.
FRANK ROBINSON
Albany, New York
Poland’s government
Your leader on the Polish
government read in places like
an election pamphlet from the
opposition Civic Platform
party (“APolish pickle”, April
21st). The governing Lawand
Justice (P iS) party received an
overwhelmingmandate from
the Polish people in 2015,
including a clear instruction to
rebalance a judiciary, which
had been stackedwith allies
by the former government
without any complaint from
the EuropeanUnion.
To counter itsweakness at
home, Civic Platform is seek-
ing to Europeanisewhat are
essentially domestic issues
and fight its battles in Brussels
rather thanWarsaw. By impos-
ing an agenda of ever increas-
ing centralisation and trying to
force amythical European
identity onmember states (the
same policies that contributed
to Brexit), theEU is behaving,
in the eyes ofmany in Poland,
like the former Soviet Union.
ASHLEY FOX, MEP
Leader of the Conservatives in
the European Parliament
Brussels
Poland’sMazowsze region is as
“gorgeous as a Chopin
concerto” (“Change of state”,
April 21st)? Themaestro’s two
piano concertos have been
calledmany things including,
rather unkindly, bad pieces for
orchestra. But nowwe are
invited to thinkof themas “an
undulating quilt of cereal
fields”. Corn?
MICHAEL KNIGHT
Geneva
Singapore’s politics
The People’s Action Party has
retained power in Singapore
not because the electoral
system is “manicured” (“Not
much leeway”, April 28th), but
because it knows and expects
that if it does not measure up it
will be voted out. We have had
14 general elections since 1959,
all free and fair and robustly
contested bymany parties.
The PublicOrder and Safe-
ty (Special Powers) Act and the
Select Committee onDeliber-
ate Online Falsehoods have
nothing to dowith keeping
“unruly critics” in checkor the
government in power. The act
applies to serious incidents
affecting public order, includ-
ing terrorist attacks. The Lon-
don riots in 2011 started out as a
peaceful demonstration that
degenerated into violence,
fuelled by social media. We
drew lessons from this and
other incidents in formulating
our act. The committee hear-
ings looked into serious issues
similar to thosewhich The
Economist has decried.
As for political succession,
the next generation of leaders
is following the same process
as previous generations. They
areworking as a teamand
taking themeasure of one
another. Theywill agree, in
good time, who among them-
selveswill be primus inter
pares . Ultimately voters have
the final say, becausewhoever
becomes primeministermust
convince the electorate to give
himand his party themandate
to govern, as in theWestmin-
stermodel. Our variant may
not be rambunctious enough
for The Economist , but it has
workedwell for Singapore.
FOO CHI HSIA
High commissioner for
Singapore
London
The grateful dead
“Funerals of the future” (April
14th) looked at the increasingly
expensive business of dis-
posing of the dead. Oneway to
reduce costs is to rehearse a
funeral. Death often comes
unexpectedly and inconve-
niently, causing friends and
family to have to plan sudden-
ly for the funeral. A funeral
rehearsal, flexibly scheduled,
so that all can attend, including
the soon-to-be-departed as a
participant in the flesh, is more
satisfying. He or she could lie
in comfort and listen to the
encomiums. If they are not
sufficiently positive, one could
rise up and glare.
THOMAS CALHOUN
Bethesda, Maryland
Mywife, Mary, died in Febru-
ary. Her bodywill train stu-
dent doctors in anatomy
through a not-for-profit consor-
tiumof local medical schools,
the HumanityGifts Registry.
The removal ofmywife’s body
was done caringly. There is a
memorial service for families
and students and the ashes are
returned.
LEONARD FINEGOLD
Media, Pennsylvania
When I was a criminal
investigator I participated in 20
exhumations of coffins buried
in concrete vaults. Fancy and
expensive caskets. Without
exception, after only a few
years each casket had failed in
someway, most often because
of the so-called hermetic seal.
The end result were contents
which in noway resembled a
sleeping loved one. From
soupy flotsam to giant mould
blooms, the interiorswere
hideous. Bottom line is, do not
waste yourmoney.
MIKE POST
Los Angeles
I am reminded of “The Big
Lebowski”. Reacting to the
expense of a funeral urn,
Walter Sobchak (played by
JohnGoodman) shouts at the
undertaker that “just because
we’re bereaved doesn’t make
us saps!” But as the urn is the
funeral parlour’s “most mod-
estly priced receptacle”, he
instead places his friend’s
ashes in an empty coffee tin.
AUGUSTUS HANEY
New York 7
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