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Letters – March 2026
Submit a letter for consideration about this month’s edition by emailing the Editors: Miss Hardeep Matharu and Mr Peter Jukes on letters@bylinetimes.com
Back to ‘Bread and Games’
Thank you for the really interesting interview with Ben Anderson and Anna J Secor (‘Out of the Doom Loop: Can Liberalism Find a More Affirming Future?’, 11 December 2025). It was thought-provoking but also deeply disconcerting.
Their focus on the public’s need to be entertained seems unfortunately spot on. If the last decade (both in the US and the UK) has shown us anything, though, it’s that we confuse politics with entertainment at our peril. Are we faced with a dilemma? Do we fight a principled but seemingly losing battle or do we acquiesce and accept the pendulum has swung back to the ‘bread and games’ stage?
More importantly, their observation that the truth doesn’t seem to galvanise people any more frankly terrifies me. Without a clear distinction between fact and fiction, and a concept of and appreciation for ‘truth’, can there even be a shared reality? And without a shared reality, can we actually have a shared humanity?
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