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