Letters: Violence breeds violence - it's a basic fact

The following letters appear in the 28th November edition of the Independent

What if the war that David Cameron argues for was a war that could really come to our shores? Not a made-up virtual flicker on our television and computer screens, a distant tug on our heartstrings that may or may not make us lift a finger to click in support of some online petition, but a war where our own friends and neighbours, women and children, faced the screaming bombs that would rip our bodies apart and break our hearts forever?

The case for war may be made logically, but war itself is a matter of flesh and blood and endless tears. When you vote for bombs, you vote for the deaths of countless children. When we vote to kill our enemies, as fast as we destroy them we feed and succour and inspire a thousand more.

Respond to hate and violence with more hate and violence, and you get more of the same. We all know this because it is one of our earliest lessons. So, why do politicians and journalists forget the rules of the playground and the home as soon as they leave for work?

Can we not ask ourselves why now, before the warplanes are unleashed and the bombs dropped?

These aggressors hate us because they believe us to be aggressors. So let us prove we are not. Hate and anger, like fire, exhaust themselves when the fuel is taken away. Let’s not fuel the flames any more. Let’s be open and forgiving and ready always to think again

The attacks we have seen in Europe are committed by criminals, not soldiers. Let us remember this and not allow ourselves to sink any further into the mire.

David L Williams

Richmond, Greater London

I find myself unexpectedly agreeing with Jeremy Corbyn. Surely we owe it to the aircrew we would ask to risk their lives that we should understand the reasons for enlarging our role and the outcomes we can expect. Most important for me is that we learn from our previous mistakes.

Can I suggest that Mr Cameron would get better support for a parliamentary motion to force Mr Chilcot to publish his report into how we got it wrong last time, leading to countless deaths in Iraq.

Unlike Mr Corbyn, I am no pacifist, but I would find it unforgivable, as the conflict develops and more lives are lost, that we learn we are repeating mistakes made only a few years ago.

The Labour Party was at the heart of those decisions and we should perhaps be in the position Mao Tse-tung reflected on when he said: “Taught by mistakes and setbacks, we have become wiser and handle our affairs better.”

John Orchard

Gloucester

I was incredulous to hear David Cameron say: “I think extending our activities into Syria is likely to reduce civilian casualties rather than increase them.”

This analysis recalls a comment on the impact of bombing in the Vietnam war. The Associated Press correspondent Peter Arnett, reporting the US military attack on Ben Tre city on 7 February 1968, wrote: “‘It became necessary to destroy the town to save it,’ a United States major said today. He was talking about the decision by allied commanders to bomb and shell the town regardless of civilian casualties, to rout the Vietcong.” I fear the same fate awaits Syrian civilians in Isis strongholds.

Dr David Lowry

Institute for Resource and Security Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts

A bombing campaign is not only a horrendous waste of money which could go to help the Syrian refugees, but it serves no purpose other than to terrorise the population. If you have soldiers in the field and they are calling in air strikes to take out opposing forces, then you have a plan and it makes sense. But bombing-for-bombing without a plan is pure stupidity. Not to mention the collateral loss of life which is really stupendous. It appears that more civilians have been killed by the Western allies than by Isis.

It is good to see that Canada has removed itself from this extraordinary folly. I only hope the UK will follow suit.

Nicholas Kinsey

Quebec

I just saw the film He Named Me Malala. Malala does not want revenge on the people responsible for shooting her. She very nearly lost her life. She holds no bitterness. She is remarkable. Let us all be remarkable.

Maggie LeMare

Harborne, Birmingham

How do you bomb an idea – even if it’s a bad one?

Ian Bartlett

East Molesey, Surrey

A tax ‘solution’ that makes problem worse

The Chancellor’s decision to allow councils to raise council tax by two per cent, the “social care precept”, could raise almost £2bn a year by 2019-20. But the 10 per cent cut in central government funding of council tax benefit remains.

A total of 284 councils out of 326 in England and Wales recover that loss of central government funding from benefit claimants by charging them from 8.5 to 30 per cent of the council tax, rather than their being exempt.

The Local Government Association estimated in 2014 that councils will have lost £1bn over the three years since 2013 because it cannot be collected from their poorest residents.

Continuing to enforce an increased tax against the lowest benefit incomes, in the magistrates courts and with the bailiffs, worsens the mental health problems that need the social care for which the tax is to be raised.

Preventing mental and physical ill health by ensuring that people receive the minimum income needed for healthy living seems to be a thought outside the compass of the present Chancellor.

Rev Paul Nicolson

London N17

It was Corbyn who fought for U-turn

Amidst their accusations of divisive and poor leadership, the Labour “moderates” calling for Jeremy Corbyn to stand down might consider that he has one solid achievement under his belt.

His calm but relentless pursuit of the Government contributed hugely to the spectacular U-turn on tax credit cuts. They, in contrast, either supported the Tories or were silent on the issue. Their only significant achievement has been dissent.

Christopher Sterling

Harpenden, Hertfordshire

I was surprised to read your editorial (26 November) suggesting Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership had nothing to do with the U-turn on tax credits by the Chancellor. I seem to remember during the Labour leadership election that all the other candidates were keen to support the Tories on cuts to welfare as essential to show economic credibility.

What Corbyn’s election has already achieved is a shift in the centre ground back to where it should be, allowing even Tories to feel they can oppose tax credit cuts.

Far from being shambolic, the defeat of the policy in the Lords was the result of a united opposition which directly led to the U-turn. Corbyn may have a lot to learn about how to deal with a hostile press, but his instincts on policy are often right. The constant attacks by the Tory press are to be expected, but for you to jump on the bandwagon is disappointing.

Alan Juriansz

Twickenham

What a difference a week makes

What a transformative week. On Wednesday George Osborne metamorphosed into Gordon Brown, and on Thursday David Cameron became Tony Blair.

And soon Syria may well become a new country – Syria-iraq-afghanistan-libya – with the same problems as its namesakes and the very real potential to outdo even their disastrous recent histories.

Richard Laver

London W8

Slater followed his own advice

Chris Blackhurst’s comments on the passing of Jim Slater (My Week, 21 November) fail to grasp that, unlike a tipster, he was both an active investor and one who followed his own sage advice, as spelt out in The Zulu Principle. Tipsters are rarely either of these.

To imply that holding a position in his favourite few shares, when asked to name them, is in any way “shameless” seems either disingenuous or curiously naive. That’s what investors normally do.

I should add that Jim Slater’s obituary (21 November) mentions very little after 1992, or how he subsequently evolved into a much-revered investment guru who popularised a disciplined approach among active private investors.

He was writing a regular weekly column in The Independent around this time and bemoaned the dearth of reliable PEG ratios. Peter Scott and I approached Jim to consider resolving this, leading directly to his devising Company REFS, the City’s “bible” of stock market data launched in 1994.

Chris Cole

Dunks Green, Kent

We don’t all live in London

In his review of a restaurant in Yorkshire (Magazine, 21 November), your correspondent notes: “It’s quite a journey to reach it... 45 minutes’ drive northwards from York.”

Could he by any chance be assuming that all of his readers are setting off from somewhere called London?

John Swan

Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear