Sports Direct is a reflection of the modern British economy | Letters

Sports Direct seems to be a metaphor for the modern British economy. "The conscious strategy would seem to be to rely on cheap labour rather than costly investment," as your editorial (11 December) says. It also illustrates the epidemic growth of workforce insecurity which plagues a nation scarred by the rise of the precariat. Britain is rapidly becoming the sweatshop of Europe, and this, along with bubbles in consumer debt and house prices, has been a major part in such anaemic recovery as we have seen over the past five years.

All credit to the Guardian for bringing this to public notice, and can we have more, please? But given all this, surely we have an open goal for Labour? No - once again they get it wrong, as Ed Miliband did when talking about "predatory capitalism" rather than highlighting the value of businesses that are run ethically and setting out plans to protect them from race-to-the-bottom firms such as Sports Direct and Amazon. John McDonnell's reported remarks are in the same vein: quite rightly outraged about abuses, but adopting a negative, accusatory tone rather than emphasising that most businessmen are not like Mike Ashley and do not need government to keep them in check.