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2 hours ago
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Jonathan Liew links rude football chants to the unmerited personal abuse which Keir Starmer is currently receiving (When crowds direct offensive chants at Keir Starmer, who’s to blame? I’m afraid he is, 13 January).
Football managers are frequently the target for similar treatment. Like them, Starmer has to set his team’s strategy and tactics and produce results that please supporters.
No matter that he saved his side from relegation and gained promotion last season, things are not going as well as expected – hence the abuse. In style and charisma, he may be more Sean Dyche than Carlo Ancelotti, and as an Arsenal fan, he should get some tips from Mikel Arteta.
The season is less than halfway through. He has time to make better use of his left wing, bring through some of the talented younger members of his squad, be sharper on the counterattack and build a better rapport with his often impatient supporters.
Dr Colin J Smith
West Kirby, Merseyside
Oh deary me. Jonathan Liew’s article is about as subtle as a brick. His notion that Keir Starmer is responsible for his own demise, and deserves to be called a wanker is both obtuse and crass. Yes, if Starmer is replaced as leader of the Labour party and as prime minister, he will have brought it on himself – not because he’s a wanker, though, but because of this government’s myriad policy cock-ups and scandals.
However, aren’t we better than the far-right, coke-snorting lager louts who think it’s coolly offensive to shout rude words in public about our prime minister?
What’s happened to us as a society when a renowned Guardian journalist like Liew descends into the gutter? I take it Liew remembers how Starmer held it together for us all, post-Southport, in the face of the most appalling, disgusting violence? Liew realises tacitly condoning this verbal thuggery will only encourage more of the same, right?
Desmond Hewitt
Marlborough, Wiltshire
Jonathan Liew thinks Keir Starmer is to blame for the crude songs. But who starts singing them? Who prints and distributes the stickers with anti-Starmer messages? Not people with any sympathy for improved public services, more progressive taxation, or rules-based international relations. Not anyone interested in serious political debate. Jonathan has fallen for propaganda from the government’s opponents.
I had the luck last week to meet the prime minister when he visited my area. In a few minutes’ chat he came across as approachable and a good listener. He seems to prefer making good, well-considered decisions rather than pleasing any one group. I’ve been a Labour party member since the days of Hugh Gaitskell, and never agreed on everything with any leader. But I’d much rather have Starmer than Johnson, Trump, Farage or Putin.
Robert Dimmick
Caversham, Berkshire
Keir Starmer is a working-class lad who worked hard, burrowed himself into a big organisation like many before him and made a success of himself. He has no illusions about the power realities in society or the need to compromise to get things done. An uncharismatic technocrat he may be, but he is a decent human being, which is why the populist right call him a wanker, and a grown-up, which is why some on the left loathe him. I just wish he would make more of the fact that by all accounts he is a decent midfielder and actually likes football.
Colin Jones
Birmingham
The extent of Keir Starmer’s unpopularity became apparent to me recently while driving through a prosperous Kent village. Someone had taken the trouble to print small posters inviting him to have sexual intercourse with himself and stuck them on to the street furniture. As none of the residents had taken the trouble to remove them, I guess they broadly agreed with the sentiment.
Ralph Jones
Rochester, Kent
As a great admirer of Jonathan Liew’s sports and opinion pieces, I find his latest deeply disappointing. Do the inane judgments and coarse chants of inebriated sports fans really have any relevance to the serious business of politics?
Gethyn Edmunds
Shilbottle, Northumberland
