Letters; On Britain as a foreign land, Berkshire Hathaway, school vouchers, dotcom economics, Harold Stassen, nuclear power, oil subsidies, women in Nepal, power lines and cancer, wind power, Palm's strategy, the Cuban missile crisis, Peter Mandelson.(Letters)

Economist (US), The, March, 2001

S IR -William Hague's description of Britain becoming a foreign land is true (Bagehot, March 10th). However, he should welcome it and commend it to voters. Every effective country should become a foreign land from one generation to the next, and they should feel challenged and even a little uncomfortable with the process.

Look what happens if you try to maintain your culture and institutions unchanged. We once admired and were even afraid of Japan with its world-beating export industries and love of technology. However, this was just a shell. Inside, Japan was looking back, with unchanging institutions and attitudes controlled by vested interests. The result: a decade of stagnation and deflation and, worse, no mechanisms available to effect change. Mr Hague and...

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