Letters

Wednesday, 26th August 2009

Spectator readers respond to recent articles

The Afghan toll

Sir: Jonathan Foreman’s article (‘Britain’s forgotten casualties’, 22 August) highlights how the focus on the death toll in Afghanistan eclipses a much wider human and economic cost arising from those many seriously injured soldiers who will require help for the rest of their lives. If you include those who are subsequently affected, often long after their service, by mental health problems arising from what they have endured, the human and economic costs are even greater.

However, while it is clear that the government needs to ensure that it responds effectively to this legacy arising from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, it should not be assumed that those soldiers are abandoned at the point where state provision ends.

In addition to the great work done by Help for Heroes and the other military charities, the regiments and corps of the army play an active role in supporting individual soldiers and their dependents who need help. Indeed many who work in this area would argue that some functions are more efficiently carried out by the charity sector and by those who know the individuals and their circumstances better.

As a former Welsh Guards officer who closely follows the fortunes of my regiment as they serve with such distinction in Afghanistan, I know that the regiment treats each and every soldier as a member of a close family, and therefore takes its responsibilities to serving or former Welsh Guardsmen and their dependents very seriously. Like many other regiments, we are planning ahead to ensure that we can do everything possible to care for those affected directly or indirectly by current operations. In the long term this will require considerable funds, so we have founded the Welsh Guards Afghanistan Appeal (see www.welshguardsappeal.com) due to launch on 7 September, in order to bear our responsibilities effectively. All contributions will be very gratefully received.

Harry Wynne-Williams
London SW12

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David Keen

August 30th, 2009 8:01pm Report this comment

Sad to see Taki forgetting his remit is High Life; he is back on his subtle anti-Jewish theme, namimg Sugar, Green, Abramovich and Madoff exclusively. This is no coincidence. Much of his previous writings follow this theme. Nowhere is High Life relevant to its title. Perhaps it is time to retire the ancient Greek. (I am not even part-Jewish, but recognise this type of bias.Among others. Editorial checks seem non-existent as regards this foolish old contributor)

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