Letter to the I: Labour Leader Letter

With regards to Jane Dale's letter about Labour MP's concerned with the direction of the party, the points she made flies in the face of political reality.  She asserts that Labour MPs should leave due to their concerns or conform completely.  It is worth pointing out that much harm has been caused in this world by people blindly following directives they know to be wrong.  It is also worth pointing out that one Jeremy Corbyn MP was in the minority in his party for many years and was against New Labour.  Should he have left then too?

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Emma Dent Coad MP Letter

Simon Kelner's article concerning the Labour MP Emma Dent Coad's comments about the Royal Family spent far too much time echoing tabloid condemnations as oppose to seriously analysing the points she has made.  What is true that according to independent research our Royal Family costs the country over £300 million a year.  This is hard to justify during times of austerity.  I doubt Mr Kelner's claims to have republican leanings, since he has never written anything to back up this claim.  However I do take him on his point though that if we British republicans are to successfully advance our cause, we need to avoid giving the tabloids ammunition against us.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Kurdish Independence Letter

Patrick Cockburn's article about the vote for Kurdish independence by the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) was very thoughtful and balanced.  I do not blame the Kurds for not listening to the many Western Governments and commentators who are discouraging a vote for independence.  Western Governments have been using Kurdish groups to fight as proxies for years, only to betray them when they need reciprocal help.  Commentators hypocritically talk about how it was wrong for the West to dictate Middle Eastern borders and then deny the Kurds their own borders.  We need to respect the Kurds' push for independence, not undermine it.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Guns Vs Butter

With regards to the letters from Mark Taha and David Buckingham about defence spending, with all due respect they are both wrong.  It is wrong of Mark Taha to expect people to politically support taking away public funds from everything to solely support defence.  Mr Buckingham is wrong to dictate defence spending by what our current territorial threats are alone.  As a permanent member of the UN Security Council we need the capability to mount international military operations.  We should aim to recapture the spirit of David Lloyd George's pre-WW1 "People's Budget".  It was this genius innovation which proved the irrelevance of the "guns vs butter" argument.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Defence Cuts Letter

While Eleanor Doughty's article on defence cuts was very thoughtful, she seemed squeamish in trying to understand the public's apathy with regards to their significance.  Frankly the war in Iraq and the ongoing one in Afghanistan the British people are growing war weary and cynical with regards to defence matters.  Such attitudes are made worse by an unholy alliance of Corbyn's Labour on the left wing and many, though not all, supporters of Brexit on the right wing.  While thus distracted the government seems to be content with making us a hollow military power as oppose to a serious one.  With much of the public wanting to stay out of harms' way internationally, they have little reason to raise any objections.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Disarming NK with Kindness

Those who Trump directed his inflammatory rhetoric at during his UN speech were thoroughly deserving recipients.  However it could be the case that the tactics he advocates to tackle so called "rogue states" are actually making their leaderships more powerful.  Sanctions on such countries tend to make their people poorer and therefore more reliant on their governments for everything including food rations.  This is exactly what happened with Saddam Hussein's Iraq and is still happening with Cuba under the US trade embargo.  Perhaps unrestricted trade would instead kill such tyrannies with kindness.

Regards

Zachary Barker 

Letter to the I: Jacob Rees-Mogg Letter

Laura Perrins' article about Boris Johnson MP and media speculation with regards to Jacob Rees-Mogg MP made for interesting reading, but it is ultimately misleading.  Jacob Rees-Mogg MP is not a potential candidate for the cabinet and the leadership of his party for two main reasons.  The first reason is that his rhetoric backed up by his behaviour shows that he is committed to being a hard working constituency MP, which Boris should try sometime.  But most importantly contemporary Britain is on the whole completely out of step with his hard-line social conservatism.  Social conservatism is dying out in this country, and I for one will drink at it's funeral.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: UK Foreign Aid

With regards to Robert Readman's letter I find the practice of using UK Foreign Aid as a political football distasteful.  I would remind him that the UK government has already made a commitment to reduce and then cease the payment of foreign aid to China and India.  UK Foreign Aid is very important to promote development in countries that may otherwise send more migrants to our shores in search of work.  Underdevelopment can often breed extremism.  Foreign Aid is also important to help spread our country's influence around the world in a peaceful way.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Syrian Civil War

I believe that Patrick Cockburn is too one sided in his reporting on the Syrian Civil War.  He seems to go out of his way to minimise the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's responsibility for the current state of affairs while putting the majority of the blame on the West.  He barely mentions Al-Assad's quickly resorting to violence against legitimate and peaceful protests.  He also neglects to mention the legitimate causes that groups like the Syrian Democratic Front and the Free Syrian Army fight for.  More widely he does not seem bothered by the prospect that the widespread hatred of Al-Assad in Syria may not be conducive to a long term and sustainable peace.

Regards

Zachary Barker 

Letter to the I: The Cost of Royals

With regards to Chris Vaite's letter concerning Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's mention of funding the Royal Family and their palaces, I believe he was being disingenuous.  Yes of course if we had an elected Head of State under a British Republic they would have costs to.  However this would not involve paying for the lifestyles of their extended family, which the current system does for the Windsor family which is still growing.  A lack of a royal family to house in palaces means more room for tourists.  The proud republics of France and Germany have outperformed us on tourism for the past several years.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Representation for British Overseas Territories

With regards to Christopher Jackson's letter I don't think the British Caribbean deserves to be neglected because of the way they run their affairs.  As long as these self-governing territories do not have a say in British Parliament, they will not be able to chart a more productive course beyond being tax havens.  With MPs representing their interests they could stake bigger claims to develop their economies and get provision for better defences against hurricanes.  In this way we could emulate the French who treat these territories as a part of France.  Given their brush with nature the voters on these islands will have an interesting insight into the issue of climate change.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: In Defence of Tony Blair

Most comments about Tony Blair's foreign policy record, in response to his recent media appearance, have varied from being very unfair to being hysterical.  It should be remembered that Tony Blair's timely intervention into the Sierra Leone Civil War in 2000 saved many lives.  As did his decision to intervene in Kosovo the year before.  He also invested a great amount of political capital in securing peace in Northern Ireland.  In light of this, it is unfair that his legacy should begin and end with the Iraq War.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Bristol

Letter to the I: Jacob Rees-Mogg Letter

The public's response to Jacob Rees-Mogg's opinions about  pregnancy and abortion caused by rape is very telling and disturbing.  The public, in their current fatal attraction to populism have fallen in love with conviction politicians.  But just because you strongly believe something strongly does not make it moral or relevant to real life.  The same goes for opinions derived from scripture.  Accepting people's right to voice opinions is one thing.  However we can't allow the religiously inclined or anyone else to deny people their freedom merely because of their strong convictions.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: France and Security Letter

Robert Jolly's letter seemed to recall the stereotype of the French as 'cheese-eating surrender monkeys' most unfairly.  Far from being timid in terms of security, the French have actually been quite active and forward thinking in recent years.  The French launched Operation Serval, the intervention in Mali against Islamists in 2013, thus saving Mali from collapsing.  To follow this up the French have embarked on Operation Barkhane, a multi country anti-terror operation across west Africa, which is ongoing.  It should also be noted that the election of President Emmanuel Macron has brought in perhaps the most critical speaking Western leader against the scheming of Putin's Russia.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Democracy in North Korea

Ian Birrell's article on North Korea made an interesting reference to technology starting to breach that isolated country.  It is true that a sort of secret middle class is developing in North Korea that has access to smart phones and is linked to a black market.  Hillary Clinton made reference in her memoirs to the US State Department supporting pro-democracy activists with such technology.  What is to say the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office cannot do the same?  Sadly this US State Department initiative is threatened by President Trump's budget cuts.  If such initiatives are supported, perhaps the North Koreans will have the opportunity to tear down their rotten system from the inside.

Regards

Zachary Barker