RSS

Contact us

Wednesday 23 July 2008

Letters

Spectator readers respond to recent articles

All this goes to demonstrate a dangerous loss of proportion. The last time the United Kingdom was engaged in a real war in defence of her sovereign independence was in 1939–1945, and the enemy then was not a scattering of bedsit plotters with homemade bombs, but the formidable armed forces of Nazi Germany. Islamist outrages such as those in London in 2005, however appalling in themselves and their impact on victims and their families, simply cannot be compared to the 1940–1941 ‘Blitz’ on London and other British cities, or the 1944–1945 bombardment by flying bombs and V-2 rockets.

Similarly, it is ludicrous for Coughlin to claim that the British army in Iraq and Afghanistan is waging ‘war on terror’. The current Iraqi insurgency is the direct product of the Bush–Blair invasion of Iraq five years ago. Saddam Hussein himself was a secular dictator and the sworn enemy of Islamic extremism. Left in place, he could have served as our tacit ally against Osama bin Laden and al-Qa’eda. As for Afghanistan, we have President Karzai’s own testimony that the Anglo-American occupation forces are now serving to exacerbate the country’s internal tensions rather than foster a solution.

Correlli Barnett
Norwich

Tax return

Sir: Anthony J. Burnet makes two interesting points in his comment on my ‘Economics of Mr Brown’ (Letters, 26 January). The first is that my questioning of the proposed new taxes on the worldwide income of non-domiciled foreigners should have been ‘tempered’ with a recognition of the fact that the US does just that: taxes the worldwide income of foreigners resident in America. He is quite right, and can’t be held responsible for not having read my fuller discussion of the issue in the Daily Telegraph (9 January), in which I explicitly recognised that fact. But I added that this disparity might well be offset by the fact that foreigners in the UK pay a sales tax, known as VAT, of 17.5 per cent, while Brits residing in America generally pay 8 per cent or less. If the goal is equality of tax treatment, both countries would have to rip up their tax codes and start over.

Equally important, Mr Burnet claims that foreigners living in America receive ‘no recognition of their charitable donations unless they happen to be to US-based charities.’ True, but only in so far as it goes. Most UK educational and cultural institutions, as well as others, have US branches, known as ‘American Friends of . . .’ For example, my wife is president of American Friends of Wigmore Hall; we regularly contribute to it and other UK-based institutions by writing cheques to the American Friends of this or that organisation, something Brits living in the US can easily do — and deduct those contributions from taxable income.

Irwin Stelzer
London WC2

More articles from: | this section

Print this article  |  Email to a friend  |  Permalink  |   Comments (1)

Post this entry to:   del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Advertisement

Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine

Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms

Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP

All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved