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