HAVING read earlier that the wealthier nations of the world have been bulk buying potential vaccines for the pandemic at the expense of poorer nations, it was with some scepticism that I began to read Michael Fry’s latest paen to capitalism (Race for vaccine shows capitalism is still best way to improve humanity, November 24).
Mr Fry is always interesting and thought-provoking but he does tend to play fast and loose with political interpretations. To list North Korea as a socialist country malevolently ignores the basic definition of a socialist state, which fundamentally infers democratic laws and liberty. He utilises the term socialist as a catch-all political expression that denotes the worst excesses of communism historically in the same way as many Americans use it to scare their children.
READ MORE: Michael Fry: Race for vaccine shows capitalism is still best way to improve humanity
Mr Fry acclaims the merits of a capitalist system that places profit on a pedestal yet flagrantly ignores the fact that this philosophy may result in needless deaths in impoverished countries that cannot compete in the vaccine marketplace with those who are affluent. The present populist Conservative government have demonstrated the reckless and unsympathetic nature of unbridled capitalism in recent months. Corrupt cronyism abounds, government contracts for PPE were awarded according to links with senior Cabinet members and individuals like Jacob Rees-Mogg continue to capitalise on libertarian capitalist conditions to make enormous profits whilst paying little or no taxes in the UK. And all this before Brexit arrives.
By cherry-picking his arguments to extol the merits of a system of free enterprise, Mr Fry conveniently ignores the excesses and, at times, unethical nature of capitalism. The government that has achieved most for the people of the UK over the last 200 years has been a socialist one. The Labour government of 1945-51 established the welfare state as we know it today, building on previous administrations’ work but striving to bolster modern Britain’s democratic base and the life chances of its people though the NHS and a progressive education system.
Mr Fry’s somewhat facetious contention that socialism is boring in comparison with capitalism may have to be reassessed, I fear.
Rosemary Kelly
via email
MICHAEL Fry continues to promote almost without criticism the benefits of capitalism. In his latest article he thinks it is this that has produced the range and quantity of Covid vaccines as quickly as it has. He is wrong.
The only reason it has been developed so rapidly is because governments and only governments have prepaid for vast quantities of doses, on a speculative basis long before efficacy and safety have been proven. Had governments, and our future taxes, not subsidised these then we would be waiting decades for anything viable, and the poorer countries would be losing out.
Unbridled capitalism, whether of a right- or left-wing, hue is ultimately the cause of environmental disasters, poverty, over-exploitation, and the increasing disparity between rich and poor across the world. As with all things in life, rights go hand in hand with responsibilities and the relaxation of those responsibilities through the unfettering of capitalists increases society’s distortions.
With the disparity of incomes and increased poverty from the pandemic, it is time that the wealthy capitalists contributed more towards the society they are part of and feed off. The priority is to create wellbeing for society, not ever more wealth for the few.
Nick Cole
Meigle, Perthshire
MICHAEL Fry’s advocacy of the benefits of free-market capitalism is an interesting talking point, but is fatally flawed, in much the same way that unquestioning adherence to socialism is.
The problem with both doctrines is that, if allowed to go to extremes, they fail to deliver society’s benefits to those who need and deserve them. It is only fair that those who create wealth are rewarded, but these wealth creators come from both those who invest their capital and those who are paid for their labour.
The view that “there is no such thing as society” is a doctrine which has had its day. The role of the state, among other things, is to create healthy and well-educated wealth creators, but also to support those who are, through no fault of their own, unable to participate in that process.
It is clearly unfair that companies making billions in profits, mostly earned as a result of working people producing their goods and services, should only pay a peppercorn amount of those profits to run the vital services delivered by those working for public good, not private profit. A modern, democratic society should reward moderation, not accept extremism.
Pete Rowberry
Duns
I WOULD be amazed and disappointed if mine is the only comment on this topic (Picture of the Day, November 23). Malarkey Bay, Loch Lomond????? You must have an Irish spell-checker. Milarochy Bay!
Les Hunter
Lanark
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