A recent social media outburst by former US President Donald Trump targeting film director Rob Reiner has drawn sharp criticism and sparked a wider conversation about political discourse. The incident, reported on 15 December, saw lawmakers and celebrities express outrage at Trump's comments.
A Cinematic Lesson in Power
In response, a reader's letter suggested Trump would benefit from studying one of Reiner's own works. Quentin Falk from Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire, proposed that instead of launching personal attacks, Trump should take lessons from the 1995 film The American President, which Reiner directed starring Michael Douglas. Falk described the film as an object lesson in the power of compassion and consensus-building in American political life.
Wit and Wisdom from the Letters Page
The exchange over Reiner and Trump was just one highlight in a typically incisive week for the Guardian's letters section. Other correspondents offered their own pointed observations on current affairs.
Richard Fielding of Hong Kong responded wryly to a report from 12 December about the reappearance of an ancient lake in California's Death Valley. The report noted that Badwater Basin is "the lowest point in America". Fielding questioned this, suggesting the true lowest point might be 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the address of the White House.
Meanwhile, Nicola Grove from Hertford thanked a previous correspondent, Copland Smith, for a poignant letter published on 9 December. Smith had used the metaphor of birds stripping a holly tree bare of its berries as a Christmas elegy for the Labour party. Grove highlighted the powerful concluding line: "Not a single flash of scarlet remains."
Accidental Felling and Life's Stages
Two further letters combined dry humour with everyday mysteries. Pete Lavender of Woodthorpe, Nottinghamshire queried a phrase in a report from 12 December about a Christmas tree in a Durham village being chopped down hours after its lights were switched on. The report stated, "It is believed to have been cut down deliberately." Lavender pondered, with evident irony, under what circumstances a decorated tree might ever be felled accidentally.
Finally, Lynn Fotheringham from Over Kellet, Lancashire mused on the tell-tale signs of life's progression. Referring to a previous discussion about life stages, Fotheringham asked whether the concurrent purchase of a Honda Jazz car and a pair of reclining armchairs should be officially recognised as the outward manifestation of a particular phase of adulthood.
The collection underscores the British public's enduring appetite for combining political commentary with witty, often self-deprecating, observation.
