Letters – 16 October 2015
From legalised theft to the Dunera boys
Legalised theft?
Like other Quakers, our family studiously avoided any encouragement of the huge waste of public funds by the Thatcher government on subsidised sell-offs of publicly owned assets during the 1980s. While Norway built a sovereign wealth fund that today supports its social and other services, the UK exhausted its assets on subsidising the wealth of resource-rich members of the public.
We have already seen the Post Office sold off, at our expense, mostly to corporate interests, and we now witness a further use of our funds to enrich those who can afford to buy shares in a bank which we partially own.
Is this, in effect, legalised theft? Taxation to support public services is a well established practice that has developed over centuries; but to use our taxes to promote the financial interests of individuals and corporate entities is of questionable morality. Why is there not an outcry against this particular sleight of hand, and what further thefts of our assets is the government planning? What happens when the last street lamp has been sold off? Are Quakers making their views known?
Roger Iredale
White poppies
We would like to write about Harrogate Meeting’s experience of remembrance ceremonies (9 October).
A small group was asked by Business Meeting to find out how to do this. We wrote to both the Royal British Legion (RBL) and the mayor to ask if we could lay a white poppy wreath during the main remembrance service at the cenotaph in Harrogate, explaining what the white poppy stood for.
The response from the RBL (who in their website say that they organise the ceremony on behalf of the mayor) was negative, stating that the white poppy was only one of a number of coloured poppies that have recently come into being and, as such, they considered that laying a white poppy wreath would be divisive.
The mayor’s parlour sent a positive response, telling us who to report to and at what time on the morning of Sunday 8 November. Further investigation elicited that the mayor’s response (from our elected representatives!) had been questioned by the RBL, resulting in a second letter from the mayor’s parlour. This apologised for the wrong information given, and said that laying a white poppy wreath on the cenotaph on the Sunday afternoon would be acceptable.
Harrogate Meeting will be doing this and, if requested by the Meeting, we’ll ask again about being part of the main commemoration next year!
Gilly Charters, Lindis Percy and Barbara Penny
You need to login to read subscriber-only content and/or comment on articles.