Telling stories
Sir: As a filmmaker by training and a marketer by profession, I couldn’t agree more with your leading article (‘Northern soul’, 27 June) on the absence of narrative in our politics. The appeal of figures such as Burnham and Nigel Farage lies in the storyworld they build around themselves – be it via pints shared down the pub, off-the-cuff honesty, or a Monty Python line landing in the Commons. But the PM who stays the course, as any brand-builder learns the hard way, must know two things: their own story, well enough to tell it plainly; and the people they speak to, well enough for them to make it their own. Aim a dull narrative at everyone and you reach no one; tell a story worth sharing and both left and right will see themselves in it.
Jon StanfordBullfinch Digital, Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Starmer’s musicality
Sir: You unfairly attack Sir Keir Starmer for allegedly lacking a hinterland and his inability to name a favourite book. Apart from football, his hinterland is music and he has had no difficulty in naming favourite composers, in particular Beethoven for his symphonies and ‘Emperor’ piano concerto. His musical taste was nurtured by his father and by playing violin, piano and flute in his youth (he attended the Guildhall School of Music as a scholar). Incidentally, the more widely read one is, the more difficult it can be instantly to name favourites.
