Letter to the I: Military Letter

I profoundly disagree with David Ridley's letter.  Although it is of course very important that our security services have the resources to protect us from terrorists, it should not be at the expense our ability to stand up to nation-states.  To this end we still need to invest in our Trident nuclear weapons to avoid nuclear blackmail from adversarial nation-states.  In a wider sense it is also important for us to maintain an expeditionary military capacity in the event that we need to military intervene abroad.  We may need to do this in order to come to the aid of NATO allies or fulfill our obligations to the Genocide Convention or the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Terrorist Wars

Malcolm Pittock's letter was as offensive as it was callously untruthful.  His naming of our recent interventions as "terrorist wars" makes it sound as though our objectives were the same as those of terrorists we oppose.  On this point he is wrong and I am sure he knows it.  I need remind him that the war in Afghanistan happened in response to the 9/11 attacks only after the Taliban refused to turn over the plotters of those attacks.  The Taliban implausibly thought it was good enough for them to be tried by their courts.  Pittock's letter is symptomatic of the poisonous allure of Corbyn's brand of appeasement, pushing fanatics of his creed to revise history to support their arguments.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Politicians Letter

Darren Wilson's letter raised many good points.  However the real reason for this dryly presented election is ultimately down to public hypocrisy about how politicians should present themselves.   In a nutshell politicians can do no right.  If they give a speech off the cuff it is either considered too amateur or too gimmicky.  If a politician speaks plainly about their personal lives people either find fault in them or find them too boring.  Often if politicians try to be funny they are seen as fake or cynical.  Maybe if we accept politicians as human beings as we accept ourselves, we will be able to see a more human portrait of them.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Bristol

Letter to the I: Jeremy Corbyn and the IRA

In the debate about Jeremy Corbyn and his association with the IRA there are two false narratives going on.  The first is that perpetuated by Corbyn that during The Troubles he was merely some sort of peace envoy, which seems hard to believe due to him virtually ignoring those who support a united Ireland by peaceful means alone, namely the SDLP.  The second is perpetuated by Conservative commentators who condemn his IRA links the most.  They wax lyrical about the IRA being evil and yet skirt over the Unionist dominated apartheid state that Northern Ireland once was.  The conditions of this state helped revive the IRA from being a dying movement.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Manchester Attacks

There is a depressing pattern that sets in after such awful terrorist attacks as that which happened at the Manchester Arena on Monday.  Not even waiting until the bodies of the victims are cold on the slab reactionaries use the shock of the moment to denounce "liberals" and "liberalism".  Not only that they have the gall to invoke the spectre of the victims or the grieving parents of those victims to push their half baked ideas.  They should remember that some of the least liberal countries in the world including Russia and China are not immune to terrorism.  They should think about more what freedom is worth before they sell it so cheaply.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: Food Security

Bryony Nierop-Reading's letter referred to the problem of food security in this country.  With respect I believe they are too idealistic in believing that we can gain anything close to food self sufficiency. Our island has not been food self sufficient for centuries even when the population was much smaller than it is now.  This is bad in that strategically this makes us vulnerable to nation-states blockading our island nation.  But it is good in that no matter how much the nativists dislike it, we need to reach out to foreign partners to communicate and trade with.  Our geographic dilemma also means keeping in mind the importance of maintaining a strong Royal Navy.

Regards

Zachary Barker

Letter to the I: University Tuition Fees

I completely disagree with the Labour Party's policy to abolish university tuition fees.  Current legislation ensures that the repayments towards are reasonable and that this debt does not affect  credit rating.  The £11.2 billion could be put to much better use since it is nearly enough to reverse the austerity cuts, from welfare to legal aid.  I am a graduate who accepts that there are bigger priorities than my fees.

Regards

Zachary Barker