Zoe Williams thinks the scale of the Tory destruction of public services is not deliberate but that they are "people with no idea what governing entails" and with no clue about its structure and mechanisms (Comment, 24 February). But things are worse than that. When David Cameron repeated his pledge "to dismantle big government", on 20 February, the roots of his argument lie in the 18th-century critique of the continental absolutist states of those times which oppressed their populations.
But the UK was never an absolutist state in that sense of the monarch versus the people, and the British were able to struggle for gradually evolved democratic forms in which most of them acquired their rights by parliamentary reform rather than violent revolution. In the Nordic elective kingdoms, the concept of the state was embodied in the people rather than in the monarch, so much so that during the past century the expression, in Sweden at least, was that "it's our state, not the state against us". That is what a democracy means.
The current Tory attacks on the state can be seen more as a form of absolutist counter-revolution, where the absolutism nowadays is that of big business over which the population has no democratic control. In the face of the attacks on public services for which the government has no democratic mandate, we should all be asking if the state belongs to Cameron and his rich friends to dispose of as they wish. After all, whose state is it?
John Veit-Wilson.
Newcastle Upon Tyne
? Much as we welcome the extensive coverage of the crisis facing Camden council (Report, 25 February), we regret that your report gave no voice to ordinary council workers or their trade unions. Over 80% of the borough's teachers belong to the NUT, while a clear majority of other Camden staff are union members, facing not only the threat of redundancy but real pay cuts and a potential 3% rise in pension contributions.
The article also promotes the notion that job cuts are primarily management "delayering". In fact, some of the first victims are dozens of admin and clerical staff on annual salaries of below �25k. Meanwhile, 19 teaching posts supporting disabled children or those learning English as an additional language are also slated to go. At a time when bankers' bonuses have returned with a vengeance and evidence mounts of massive corporate tax avoidance and even outright evasion, the ideological thrust of the coalition cuts and privatisation agenda becomes ever more naked. Sadly, however, Camden's Labour councillors, for all their words of remorse, have so far not translated rhetorical opposition to the government into meaningful resistance.
That is why we shall be marching not only on 26 March on the TUC-organised demonstration, but also to Camden town hall on 28 February as councillors meet to vote on the 2011-12 borough budget. And much as we would like to be working in a united fight involving Labour councillors, we have also seen no option but to ballot our members for strike action against compulsory job losses.
Andrew Baisley
Association secretary, Camden NUT
? What a wonderful future to look forward to. I can't wait to be older and isolated, and have nowhere to go because "daycare centres are rapidly becoming outmoded and new technical services are cheaper". Well that's alright, isn't it? I'm sure people will be eagerly awaiting their phone call, instead of being with other people and having lunch together. "Big society"? No, callous society.
Maureen Hills-Jones
Bedford
? It is right that we face up to rethinking the structure and funding of local government. It is wrong that areas like Camden and Middlesbrough, which have some of the highest levels of deprivation and vulnerability in the UK, are facing the highest percentage of cuts. The principle of fairness in terms of ethics and social justice are undermined by the current local government finance settlement. The rhetoric of communities secretary Eric Pickles echoes the worst aspects of 19th-century attitudes towards the poor, the vulnerable and the unemployed.
Ian Jones
Chair, Middlesbrough & East Cleveland Liberal Democrats
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/26/public-sector-cuts-davidcameron
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