The new month and week begin with discussions of Great Britain’s foreign aid, the Festival of Remembrance, cuts to Perth and Kinross Council services and a possible new EU treaty.
We cannot afford foreign aid in austere times Sir,-In your report of the Scottish Forestry Forum (October 28), Roseanna Cunningham attests that that the disposal of Forestry Commission assets in England will not affect Scotland.
She states, “We have no plans to dispose of the national forest estate.”
Being of a suspicious nature, I read this as the Scottish Government having no plans, at the moment, to dispose of Forestry Commission land.
Those more cynical than me would say that the government will be watching the English situation closely to gauge public reaction to forest disposal.
A further twist to this tale is that I now learn that UK environment secretary Caroline Spelman has pledged £100 million of taxpayers’ money to international forestry as part of the coalition government’s foreign aid programme. This announcement came just days after the story broke that the Forestry Commission may have to sell off its forests to raise money for the government.
Many will spot the incongruity of the two pieces of news. It is crass, insensitive and incredibly stupid.
I do not think that politicians, of whatever colour, realise the strength of feeling that the public has about handing out taxpayers’ money for so-called international aid in the present financial straits that we find ourselves.
J. D. Lindsay.North Grange,Den of Lindores,Cupar.
Charity should begin at home
Sir,-Now we know the extent of the cuts looming over us for the next few years, would it be beyond the comprehension of our parliamentarians to cease all foreign aid.
Surely, when the citizens of this country are being asked to face several years of austerity, we should not be giving out money to buy 12 Mercedes luxury cars and a private jet, as happened in Malawi.
India has just ordered hundreds of aircraft from Russia. Does it make sense that we should fund this in any way?
Why is it that these countries always manage to have space programmes, nuclear weapons and billion-pound games but we are giving them aid?
Great Britain is no longer a world leader unless it is in the biggest debtor class. Time then to adhere to the maxim charity begins at home.
Bill Duthie.25 St Fillans Road,Dundee.
Festival of Remembrance
Sir,-May I draw your readers’ attention to the Royal British Legion Scotland’s Angus and Perthshire Area Festival of Remembrance in the Caird Hall, Dundee, on Saturday, November 6. This year we mark 60 years since the outbreak of the Korean War and 70 years since the Highland Division fought to the end in France.
We also mark the sacrifices of our contemporary servicemen and women.
To help us remember and celebrate, we have the band of the Royal Marines Scotland, the pipes and drums of Angus and Dundee Battalion of the Army Cadet Force and the Northern Area Band of the Sea Cadets, plus traditional community singing and an ecumenical act of remembrance.
Tickets are £5, available from the City Box Office, Dundee, by phone on 01382 434940, or online at citybox@dundeecity.gov.uk any profits from the evening go to Poppy Scotland, or as older readers may prefer to call it, the Earl Haig Fund Scotland.
Col A. D. F. Maclean.Festival convener,6 Clive Street, Dundee.
Self-interest of public sector
Sir,-It was interesting to note (October 29) that Perth and Kinross Council can find £38 million of savings yet give an assurance to its 6200 employees that their jobs are safe. The jobs guarantee comes at the beginning of the cuts process when we are warned that Perth and Kinross faces a “tsunami” of service reductions.
Council tax payers would be forgiven for interpreting this as an authority putting their own jobs before their customers.
The public sector still don’t get it. It seems we are not all in this together.
Bob Ferguson.North Muirton,Perth.
Euro treaty vote likely
Sir,-While much attention has inevitably been focused on the EU budget at the summit in Brussels, one of the key issues on the agenda is the proposal by France and Germany for a new EU treaty, amending the current Lisbon Treaty.
This change is in order to deliver a new, permanent mechanism for handling future debt crises, as has bedevilled some Eurozone nations. The Germans and French are demanding that the treaty change bring in sanctions for those nations breaching the Eurozone’s fiscal limits.
While the belief in the United Kingdom is that it is outside the Eurozone, so will not be affected by any treaty change, past experience suggests that such keyhole surgery may prove impossible.
Eurosceptics, especially those on the Conservative backbenches, will also seize on the potential for a new treaty to call for a referendum and a repatriation of powers from Brussels.
The European Union may not be in a state of permanent revolution but it is in permanent renegotiation, and it should come as no surprise if the UK goes to the polls to vote on this new treaty, a vote which many quarters will view as being long overdue.
Alex Orr.Flat Two,77 Leamington Terrace,Edinburgh.
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