Archbishop is wrong over Blair and Iraq

I SEE that Archbishop Desmond Tutu has asked for Tony Blair to be tried in an international court for crimes against Iraq.

I have lived a long time and followed and acknowledged 
his working life as an 
Archbishop and the good he did when he took part in bringing South Africa to almost the point of democracy.

In that part of his life he has 
not been serious enough to condemn other African leaders who are following a similar regime as the Nazis in their 
own countries and against their own people.

Stick to your religion, Archbishop. I find your outspoken comment on both Tony Blair and George Bush, two major politicians, abhorrent. Hopefully he will also be condemned by other people around the world.

If Saddam Hussein the 
dictator had not been killed, he would certainly have been condemned for crimes against the hundreds of thousands of 
his own countrymen he 
killed, for the same reason as the Nazis.

This was well recorded for 
many years before any action 
was taken to help the people of Iraq.

He also appears to have forgotten that Saddam Hussein had his eyes set on taking over the whole of the Middle East and tried very hard, but didn’t succeed because the two countries he now condemns took care of the situation.

The one thing I think is regretted is the fact that 
having pushed Saddam Hussein and his Army back into Iraq after the first Gulf War, we didn’t go further and ensure that his dictatorship was finished completely.

House price fall needed

From: Kendal Wilson (leader of the Yorkshire Socialist Alliance), Wharfebank Terrace, Tadcaster.

I AM writing with reference to 
the latest buzzword being 
used by Labour leader Ed Miliband. I refer to the wonderful American idea of pre-distribution, whereby employers and businesses are supposed to offer higher pay than the minimum wage.

This, Mr Miliband believes, will quell the need for welfare payments and absolve his party from the tax credit fiasco which wasn’t linked to PAYE, and in some cases has left thousands owing money.

However, this would indicate disloyalty to the battered British worker. Many employers have removed their plant or gone abroad using cheaper labour force.

What Mr Miliband will be saddled with if he returns his party to power is another sub-prime housing market in an overworked property speculator’s economy. The property boom was – and is – a con trick with the only winner being the banks; it is deflation that is needed worldwide.

A return to taxing times

From: Alan Carcas, Cornmill Lane, Liversedge.

VINCE Cable’s mansion tax, and Nick Clegg’s wealth tax, remind me very much of the Soviet-style taxation and economic policies pursued by the 1945, post-war Labour government. Those were the days when the “rich” paid tax at 98 per cent, and some “super-rich” paid tax at 105 per cent. Clegg sounds as if he can’t wait to get back to them!

Why is Cameron in coalition with somebody who prefers to act as if he is Leader of the Opposition, rather than Deputy Prime Minister?

Much has changed in our system of government in the 
past two years, the principle 
of Cabinet responsibility 
for one.

Why are policies “Minister’s policies” and not “the Government’s policies?” Especially as it is the Conservative part of the coalition Government that is attempting to actually govern, and getting the blame for the failings of the Lib Dem coalition rump.

Equal partners they ain’t, nor should they be.

Why, oh why, didn’t Cameron have the bottle to run a minority government? He would still be there, and would have got through all his important policies to save to save the economy.

To have opposed them 
would have meant national bankruptcy, and not even Clegg, Cable or Ed Balls have got the bottle to have taken us down 
that path.

Applause for florist’s work

From: Jane Bleiker, The Malt Shovel, Brearton.

I WRITE in reply to Robert 
Forbes of Oasis Florists, Ripon, and his letter “Overlooked provider of creations for 
services” (Yorkshire Post, September 10).

I feel suitably rebuked! As a family we have called on Oasis to create their wonderful floral works of art for the weddings of each of our six children, my parents’ diamond wedding and my mother’s funeral.

Each time we have been 
thrilled with the individual bouquets and displays, Mr Forbes having interpreted our (sometimes eccentric) requests to perfection.

I am mortified to think that 
he may not have been aware 
of the extent of our appreciation – and can only think that it 
must be because he was 
probably not around for the traditional votes of thanks during the various occasions and so did not hear the thunderous applause.