NOT calling last orders on Fletters
The below of course was posted on April 1st so I can confirm that I’m NOT calling time on writing letters, yet. Even so, the points made here remain relevant as former Guardian letters editor Nigel Wilmott tweeted me.
While the Guardian, Times, Telegraph, Morning Star and Mirror do continue to carry on with lively letters pages, elsewhere the decline is noticeable- where hard copy publications continue. The New Statesman for example, which had a robust letters space, now often carries only four or five. People comment on-line or on social media.
My socialist letter writing mission has been taken up by others, notably Sasha Simic who is doing a great job
Nevertheless the reality that much comment is now on-line and that poses significant issues for future generations who want to discover what people were thinking and saying before them. Very far from all letters written either personally or for publication survive for posterity, but many do. The collected letters of Marx and Engels (which are far from comprehensive- there are gaps) is a fascinating resource for historians. If they were corresponding in 2023 would the e-mails have been kept?
By contrast while some electronic comment is archived there is no guarantee that it will be available in future decades as technology moves on…
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According to my (not particularly accurate) Wiki entry I’m a ‘prolific letter writer to the British press’.
That bit at least is true. I write less these days but I haven’t stopped, despite occasional suggestions that I have.
I started in the mid-1980s writing to the Guardian (which I still do, there was a Fletter on socialism and beards published this week)with the express aim of trying to provide some historical perspectives to a media that seemed even then to be obsessed with out of context for the moment reports.
The letters don’t and never have covered just that though. Beer, beards, cricket, cheese and of course socialist politics all feature.
Now however I’ve decided after nearly 40 years or so to call it a day.
While I still see the value of the edited (in effect moderated) letters page compared to social media and below the line commentary, the sad reality is that the audience for letters to the editor has diminished over the years. So too have the publications that one can write to, as many either go on-line only or close altogether.
What’s Brewing, the monthly paper of the Campaign for Real Ale, published its last print edition a while ago. I used to write letters regularly, but no more. Beer discussion has moved almost entirely on-line some time since.
I comment on Twitter and Facebook and run a blog. All excite considerable comment on occasion. I’m afraid published Fletters mostly pass by more or less un-noticed by comparison. Those that ask me, for example, if I’ve stopped writing to the Guardian I suspect mostly don’t read the print edition anymore (nor do I) where the letters are prominent in the comment section. The letters appear in the various Guardian digital versions (which I subscribe to) but you have to search them out.
If you do actually want to read what I’m saying a good point of entry is on twitter @kmflett. If you don’t you won’t come across me inadvertently as you’re flicking through a paper or magazine anymore
