Assange’s intentions
Sir: Your leading article (‘In praise of secrecy’, 4 December) notes that the latest round of WikiLeaks disclosures has ‘sent a worrying chill through diplomatic circles’, and made it more difficult for nations to co-operate. Quite so. But this is, as computer programmers sometimes say, a feature, not a bug. WikiLeaks’s founder Julian Assange is the author of a paper entitled ‘State and Terrorist Conspiracies’, in which he identifies such easy informal communications, behind the backs of democratic electorates, as a key means through which authoritarian policies can be enacted. Charles Stross, the science-fiction writer whose blog drew my attention to the essay, declares that Assange is ‘defending our democracies (despite their owners’ wishes)’. I would not go so far. But I would be very cautious about assuming Assange to be naive, rather than, say, ruthless.
Thomas Furber,
Greenwich
Labour of love
Sir: As someone who had a tricky labour two weeks ago, I found Carol Sarler’s piece about pain and pregnancy (‘Hard Labour’, 4 December) very comforting. In my experience, antenatal classes do push women to choose the natural way, and to feel ashamed of wanting relief from pain. But women are as guilty of pressuring themselves to cope with the suffering, just as they often compete to regain their slim figures in record time. I can’t deny that I was disappointed that I had an emergency Caesarian section. I hope that next time it won’t be necessary. But if it is, I will try not to feel as if I have failed Mother Nature, and be grateful that modern medicine gave me the chance to have a child.
Taffeta Gray
London W14
Mirsky is mistaken
Sir: I can assure Jonathan Mirsky that I never thrilled to the sound of the Cultural Revolution (Books, 20 November).
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