On justice services abortion, car dealers, bts, technology at work

Frontline justice As you suggest, brave grassroots activists who challenge and hold governments to account can lead to improvements in a country’s rule of law (“Overruled”, June 11th). But this is a longterm endeavour. In the meantime, improving frontline services to deal with people’s everyday justice problems is possible and affordable. In lowincome countries it costs just $20 per person a year to provide basic communitylevel justice services. Sierra Leone’s governmentfunded Legal Aid Board, with its network of communitybased paralegals, reaches ten times more people than the previous coalition of smallscale grassroots activists. It offers a powerful example of what can be done where there is political will and scaledup targeted investment.

In rich countries, the failure to fund systems to deal with people’s routine legal problems is a political choice. But in poor countries affordability is an issue. These countries are unable to provide half the cost of a basic justice service, even if they maximise their tax take and allocate the same percentage to justice as oecd countries do. Targeting more of the aid budget that is spent on justice towards frontline services would be a good startingpoint for opening up access. clare manuel marcus manuel Senior research associates odi London

What did you expect? Your leader on the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade admitted that the decision in 1973 to grant abortion rights “rested on shaky legal arguments” (“After the shattering of Roe”, July 2nd). So why, in the face of this, wouldn’t conservatives have been expected to overturn Roe when they got the chance to do so?

America’s culture wars have a strange character. They tend to be assumed to be fine until conservatives respond to the attacks made on their views. I personally favour a right to abortion, but it should be codified by Congress, which is accountable to the electorate. The same is true of some of the other dubious constitutionallaw issues that have been introduced under substantive due process. jeremy shearmur Dumfries

Federal legislation is needed to fill the legal vacuum “that sucks in the justices”, you say. One pragmatic way of dealing with this would be for Congress to codify federal “guardrails” for abortion that all 50 states must abide by. Legislation that legalises abortion nationwide between eight and 18 weeks gestation, for example, would provide such guardrails. States would then enact their own abortion laws within these parameters, permitting places like Idaho to ban abortion eight weeks after conception and those like California to legalise it until 18 weeks. Sufficient numbers of prochoice legislators might begrudgingly support such legislation, knowing that abortion would be legal nationwide until embryos become fetuses. Conversely, enough prolife legislators may get on board if abortion after quickening was banned nationwide.

This would require arduous compromise, but the 50 outcomes subsequently produced by the states would more closely align with the abortion values held by the overwhelming majority of Americans, rather than the chaos that now portends. t. michael spencer Washington, dc

Dealers or no dealers? I enjoyed your article on the upheaval in the automobile industry (“The great Teslafication”, June 18th). The switch to electric vehicles (evs) will be daunting; the inputs and skills required to design and build them are fundamentally different from those required for vehicles powered by internalcombustion engines.

However, I challenge the notion that the “timehonoured dealership system” is still useful as we move to an ev world. The function of dealers as holders of new car inventory was on its way out because of Tesla’s online ordering system. This change has been hastened by the global chip shortage. You mentioned that dealers also serve an important service function. My new electric Volvo’s first recommended service is at 20,000 miles, about three times longer than for traditional cars. evs have fewer moving parts or fluids that need changing; they barely even use their traditional brakes because of regenerative braking.

If I don’t need a dealership to buy a car, and the car I buy needs little servicing, what timehonoured function are dealers serving? jake dean Director Grainger Centre for Supply Chain Management Wisconsin School of Business Madison, Wisconsin

You quote analysis from Barclays that carmakers need to “move at Silicon Valley speed”. If this is the same speed at which Barclays bank customer centres take my calls, the challenge is not so great. paul samengo-turner Berlin

Life goes on As a longterm subscriber to The Economist, history professor and bts army (Adorable Representative mc for Youth), I was disappointed by Banyan’s column on the legacy of the South Korean boyband (June 25th). In their breakup video, the members of bts discuss their ongoing commitment to create innovative and meaningful music, a process fuelled sometimes by public engagement and at other times by introspection. In the comments on that video, you will find armys who appreciate the group’s honest assessment of the challenges that they face and who look forward eagerly to their solo albums. In bts’s Koreanlanguage songs, you will find commentary on Korean social issues and online bullies. Try “Silver Spoon”, “Spring Day”, or “Ugh!”. hannah barker Tempe, Arizona

The work-app balance Sadly, I fear Bartleby’s belief that technology will lead to less wasted time at work is misguided (June 18th). We recently moved to jazzy new headquarters, fully digitally enabled. In practice, this means I now require four new apps on my phone. One has my access pass to get in. Another lets me reserve a desk, book a meeting room or open my locker. A third enables me to buy my lunch. The fourth provides a secure verification to access all the other apps.

As a result, every time I am at the office I add five minutes of swearing to my day as I open the incorrect app and another nine minutes staring at my screen so that I can use face recognition to avoid entering a password. I must also spend 12 minutes repeatedly giving my phone a minicharge before each meeting. Fortunately, I’m in the office only two days a week due to our new flexible work policy. sian davies London

When Bartleby says “Whether the time thereby saved would be put to more productive use” he could stop wasting time by eliminating “thereby”. keith sawyer Bushmills, County Antrim

I am surprised that Bartleby left out the most pointless of pointless tasks: writing letters to the editor. charles hagedorn Hopedale, Massachusetts

Letters are welcome and should be addressed to the Editor at The Economist, The Adelphi Building , 1-11 John Adam Street, London wc2n 6ht Email: letters@economist.com More letters are available at: Economist.com/letters