It’s crazy to give millions in aid to space age China
IT BEGGARS belief that £71 million has been handed to China in so- called aid (Mail). We can’t afford to continue to give pensioners a free TV licence, but there is a bottomless pit of taxpayers’ cash that can be sent abroad.
Any country that can afford to send a rocket to Mars certainly does not need aid. It’s time the Government realised voters are not fools and will not stand for this waste.
Mrs G. BRENNAN, Birmingham. THE foreign aid budget should be available only for true humanitarian cases, such as earthquakes or the bush fires in Australia.
The Government needs to find ways to pay for the impact of the pandemic on our economy, so we can’t afford this ridiculous foreign aid spending.
SARAH MORRISON, Ormskirk, Lancs.
No money tree
WHY does the Government feel compelled to send vast sums of foreign aid to countries such as China and India?
Their leaders must be laughing all the way to the bank. It is the ordinary people I feel sorry for as I expect little of the money filters down to those who need it most.
If the Government is going to be so profligate with our taxes, we must make sure it benefits the needy and not regimes that spend millions on space research or have economies bigger than our own.
We can’t continue being the money tree for the world. Once our economy has been put in order, then we can be generous.
SIMON DREW, Bracknell, Berks. WE HAVE given millions to promote human rights and democracy in China. Well, that was money well spent.
S. PERKINS, Grimsby, Lincs.
Enjoy the fruits
I AGREE with Monty Don that we shouldn’t be ashamed of our colonial gardens (Mail).
Many plants may have originated in Britain’s former colonies, but we are now the protectors of a living museum of Mother Nature’s bountiful gifts.
Avid botanists travelled worldwide over the centuries to build up a collection of plants for food and medicinal purposes.
The Caribbean islands still benefit from a versatile food they never had before my great-greatgreat grandfather, Vice-Admiral William Bligh, took a boatload of breadfruit saplings from Tahiti to the West Indies in 1793.
And generations of children and ice cream lovers might never have known the delicious favour of pods harvested from Tahitian orchids. I can’t imagine life without vanilla!
MAURICE BLIGH, Sittingbourne, Kent.
Don’t blame Covid
WHEN the 91-year-old mother of a colleague was taken to hospital suffering breathing problems, she tested negative for Covid-19.
She died ten days later of suspected heart failure. However, the death certificate stated the cause of death to be coronavirus.
No other virus tests had been carried out, but the family were told recording a death as due to Covid-19 is ‘standard practice as it eliminates the need for a postmortem’. They have demanded a revised death certificate.
GEOFF GREGORY, Market Harborough, Leics.
Toxic relationship
I DO feel sympathy for Amber Heard and Johnny Depp as they seem to have experienced the marriage from hell.
When celebrities can’t sort out their differences in private, inevitably they go viral and the world gets to watch.
They appear to be the modern day Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, a dysfunctional couple who were attracted by the other’s shortcomings when it came to ego, booze and sex.
Depp and Heard need to conquer their demons and deal with their insatiable need for attention. They should get a grip on their lives and be grateful for the hand that life has dealt them.
COLIN NICOL, Cheam, Gtr London.
Seeing Red
WHATEVER the activities of Russia, there is no evidence it had any effect or influence on the democratic process of the Scottish or EU referendums.
The citizens of this country make their own decisions and it is offensive to suggest otherwise.
Failed political parties are looking for an excuse for their failure and the good judgment of the British people in consigning their causes to the dustbin of history.
To blame Russia is pathetic. It was the will of the British people. NEVILLE RHOADES, Milton Keynes, Bucks.
Lost generation
STAYING in a German mountain village, I was shocked to see a statue of a World War II soldier.
But I realised it was not commemorating the war, but marking the loss of ten young local men. Given the size of the village, a generation had been wiped out.
The statue had been erected by relatives grieving their loss. Before we judge monuments, we should understand our own prejudices.
S. COPELAND, address supplied.
The Who-dunit
I ENJOYED the story about the London cabbie who revealed ‘whodunit’ to an annoying passenger about to see The Mousetrap (Letters). It reminded me of a story I was told about Mick Jagger and The Who’s Keith Moon.
In the late 1960s, unlikely as it sounds, they attended a matinee of The Mousetrap and then adjourned for ‘one or two’ drinks.
About an hour into the evening show, the refreshed Mick and Keith decided to have some fun. It was claimed they walked into the theatre, ran down the aisle, announced to the startled audience ‘It was (name deleted) whodunit!’ and legged it before the ushers could apprehend them.
That night it was the audience who got no satisfaction! ALAN WIGHTMAN,
Newport, Gwent.