Letters March 2026

Sweet nostalgia

I recall my dad back in the 1960s would always buy a jar or tin of sorghum [“Are Americans Getting Sweet on Sorghum?”] in the fall. He would mix a dollop of sorghum with a little softened butter and spread it on toast or biscuits. It was not unusual to see farmers in central Illinois (especially the Amish) growing a field of it.

Michael D.

Minnesotans to the rescue

Good article [“Will Trump Meet His Russian Winter in Minnesota?”]. I just want add that the Minnesota 1st volunteer army saved the Union at Gettysburg. Over 250 Minnesotans charged a gap in Union lines to halt an assault by the Confederate. Fifty men were able to walk out of that fight.

C.S.

Left labour’s loss

Wonderful article [“From the Old Country: Alive to Tell the Tale”]. I was born and raised near Newbury, in Berkshire, England, so familiar ground. Being 87, the article rang a lot of bells. I’m currently reading amongst other things Paul Holden’s book The Fraud, about the vile and successful plot to use alleged, or more correctly, invented antisemitism, in Corbyn’s leftist part of the Labour party to get Starmer the leadership of the party. Starmer promised all kinds of wonderful things of a standard Labour type, like climate change, and then reneged on them once he became prime minister. He expelled Corbyn from the party (or withdrew the whip as they say), although he was reelected as an independent. He booted out of the party Ken Loach whose work as a film maker has had more to say about working class life than most politicians.

J. Patricia C.

Burying history

This isn’t just about Iowa [“Iowa Republican Are Trying to Erase Our History”], this is happening all over the world, right down to the cemeteries where Americans who fought our wars are buried. In the Netherlands black soldiers were being honored for their exceptional service with signs pointing out their accomplishments right down to digging the graves for thousands in these cemeteries. All taken down because of Trump reducing minorities and their accomplishments to a less than the white “majority.” History is what tells us where we made our mistakes and prevents us from doing it over and over again. At least it gives us the opportunity, but deciding history is un-necessary suggests we want to keep making these mistakes as a policy and certainly do not want to be shown to be ignorant as a result.

Steve H.