Vast spending must cease

Sir, – As Malcolm Parkin detailed recently (No more money, just debt, Courier, January 9) we in UK, including Scotland, are vastly in debt, with interest charges of about £1 billion a week.

He gave the example of aid payments, especially to developing countries and often without diligent scrutiny as to how the money is spent.

The huge sum of £14bn, as a fixed percentage of our GDP, is presently allocated.

Money is needed, of course, for disaster relief, such as now in Australia.

Any prudent householder in debt, aiming to curtail spending, would assess the possibilities. Governments are very often imprudent.

Examples include, first, billions, or trillions, spent on green tokenism in not possibly influencing world climate since our CO2 output is negligible at under 1% of the planet’s total, while other nations not curbing carbon release the bulk of greenhouse gases.

Secondly, our huge remits to the EU, though soon to fall, have much contributed to our debts.

Thirdly, there must be doubts as to some present defence spending, such as the “independent” nuclear weapons and the two new carriers.

We need forces mainly for national defence and to support “firefighting” overseas.

The HS2 rail link, vastly over budget, now likely set for cancellation, a vanity project, represents a predictably unwise policy.

Most political decisions are complex, but very much more common sense, along with expertise, is now vitally needed to reduce bad spending and the sheer waste of present times. (Dr) Charles Wardrop. 111 Viewlands Rd West, Perth.