Recent Examples
(our published letters):

Dear Editor,
Gordon Brown says full employment is achievable. Problem is, half of UK jobs produce no “real wealth”, no resources or services useful to human life. These pointless jobs (many in financial services) have no effect except to move money around in databases, benefiting the rich. It used to be called usury. People actually burn up fossil fuels travelling to these pointless jobs.
(The Independent, 16/3/2001)

Dear Editor,
The way this government talks about work reminds me of the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work Makes One free”) Nazi concentration camp entrance sign. Hitler provided full employment. Prison workshops have full employment. Coercion can always create full employment.

What happened to leisure? We’ve seen incredible advances in labour-saving technology over the last 30 years, yet working hours have risen during this period. And now government ministers want to promote a “work first” culture. Are they insane?
(Read out on BBC Radio 4 ‘PM’ news, 5/7/2001)

Dear Editor,
The New Deal has created approximately 50,000 jobs which otherwise wouldn’t exist. But it cost £5bn (five billion) to set up. By my calculation, that means each job created cost the taxpayer £100,000.
(The Guardian, 15/7/2000)

Dear Editor,
On average, less than 10 children are killed each year by strangers in England and Wales, according to government figures. Road accidents, however, kill or seriously injure several thousand children every year. The media obsession with paedophiles distorts perceptions of risks to children.
(The Sun, 26/7/2000)

Dear Editor
Re: Flu Epidemic –
Last year’s Government clamp-down on “sick-note culture” was regrettable. Taking time off sick is increasingly seen as a bad career move, with the result that everyone in the office catches flu. My advice: prevention is better than cure, so call in sick before you get ill.
(The Guardian, 12/1/2000)

Quotes from a Media Heretic:

Timothy Leary wrote an article on how to get letters in print: How to Publish Heresy. Here are some quotes (the full version is available in the excellent ‘Chaos and Beyond’ by Robert Anton Wilson):

“... the editorial pages of newspapers publish opinion pieces by well-known columnists. These syndicated pundits are selected to give the illusion of a variety of viewpoints, but in reality such columns cover only a narrow spectrum...”

“If somebody like me – or Alex Cockburn or Noam Chomsky or even Gore Vidal – were to submit a truly dissident essay, no matter how convincing the facts and witheringly brilliant the logic, there is very little chance it would be published.”

“Letters to the Editor is the only section of the paper where far-out opinions are expressed... In the last ten years I have written hundreds of letters to [LA newspapers]. Letters signed with my own name usually vanish down the memory hole and do not appear in print. However, I have a high rate of success (publication) when I write under pen-names...”

[Satirical Strategy] “... avoid stating dissident opinions openly. Simply adopt the current Establishment line, exaggerate it a bit (in the manner of Voltaire) and ‘defend’ it in the passionate jargon of the true believer. Satire reaches those deaf to logic and evidence.”