Letters - 23 July 2010
From the Defence Spending Review to Christian discipline
Defence spending reviewKen Veitch gave a report (25 June) of the Defence Spending Review which outlined a total cost of armaments as £84.46 billion – equal to almost half of the stated debt. We are nearly at the end of July and it horrifies me that no one has (so far) commented on this in the Friend.
I would urge Friends to write to our prime minister and other laudable politicians pleading with them to reduce this great cost and so reduce our enormous debt.
‘It only needs for good people to do nothing, for evil to triumph.’
Ruth Burton
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Divesting from BP
Like David Pawlyn I too agree with Nick Francis that we should trust and let the Quaker Investment sub-committee decide about our BP shares.
Whilst I can understand the immediate emotional response to us continuing to hold BP shares I consider that F/friends and other companies/organisations should reflect upon only s/he who is innocent picking up the first stone. The Co-Op owns numerous farms producing beef & dairy products as well as manufacturing & selling leather shoes & furniture. As Quakerism has a strong peace element and the meat & dairy industry is steeped in cruelty & killing perhaps Friends, particularly those advocating selling BP shares, will go on to boycott the Co-Op until they shut down all of their animal farms & abbatoirs as well as declining to stock animal products from their suppliers?
Will people now cease from driving their cars/flying on holidays/buying plastic goods in plastic bags? It is no good grumbling about the traffic if we are part of it. Criticising BP is similar to blaming the butcher/abbatoir owner or meat/dairy farmer for causing animal cruelty/polluting the planet/climate change whilst wearing leather shoes/tucking in to meat & 2veg washed down with a latte coffee!
As Professor Tom Regan said many years ago ‘all we can do is try and get further & further from the centre of the web of evil we are all caught up in’. I consider it is preferable to stay with BP and continue to have dialogue with them. Bill Palethorpe