Fox right to be furious on aid

DEFENCE Secretary Liam Fox has every right to be furious, and so am I, that David Cameron and his cronies are trying to make foreign aid a legally binding 0.7 per cent of our GDP (Yorkshire Post, May 18).

This was not in anyone’s manifesto and the public certainly did not vote for this policy. Most of us accept that cuts must be made to reduce the debt left to us by the last Labour Government, but I am totally against our almost bankrupt nation giving any foreign aid.

Springing to the defence

From: Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

I MUST spring to the defence of Mr Hyde of Driffield, whom Trevor Boag accuses of erroneous expression (Yorkshire Post, May 19).

Mr Hyde’s phrase that mistakes may be “due to” the use of text-messaging is grammatically, as well as semantically, correct. “Due to” acts adjectivally; “owing to” acts adverbially. As a rule of thumb, if you start a sentence with “due to” you should be using “owing to”. “Owing to our pedantry, other readers will pour scorn on us” and “the disdain shown by other readers is due to our insufferable pedantry” are both correct.

Ups and downs

From: G Ellison, Hawthorn Avenue, Dronfield.

THE number of unemployed claiming jobseekers’ allowance rose by 12,400 in April, but unemployment is falling. Work that out if you can.

Only politicians can come out with statements and statistics like that. Unfortunately there are people out there who believe them.

Service record

From: Mrs MI Rowling, Lee Green, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

I AGREE with David Nash (Yorkshire Post, May 18) about the long history of self-service supermarkets. I started work in the NAAFI grocery shop at RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire, in November 1959. Maybe there were smaller stores back then, but they were nevertheless self-service.