Letters: The hard truth about soft power

Soft ground

Sir: We have heard much over the years from the overseas aid lobby about the value of soft power. Now the chips are down, we see how empty those claims were. Aidan Hartley (‘Russia’s special relationship’, 16 April) outlined how African nations have lined up to support Russia rather than Ukraine or the West, exposing how wasted the UK’s investment in soft power has been. The same applies to aid given to Pakistan and India. The absurdity of an overseas aid target of 0.7 per cent (of GDP) must be abandoned and replaced by an 0.5 per cent spending ceiling, at or below which the UK’s aid objectives in the third world must be seen to bring results. If we seek real influence in an increasingly unstable world, we need to rebuild our armed forces, which have been underfunded for nearly 20 years.

Gregory Shenkman

London SW7

Poor politics

Sir: Your leading article (‘Keep the faith’, 9 April) discussed whether the wealth of the Chancellor was a political problem. In common with many such articles, it did not focus enough on his political acumen. Taking 5p off the price of a litre of petrol was his big decision to help with the cost of living. A few weeks later this has been forgotten as the price of petrol goes up, and occasionally down, by more than that most days. It would have been so much more memorable and meaningful to reduce the cost of annual heating bills by a few hundred pounds. It was a total waste of money and very poor politics.

Johnny Cameron

Pewsey, Wiltshire

Holy wars

Sir: Justin Welby writes (Diary, 16 April) that religion has become an easy hook to hang conflict on. Why is that? It is because from the Crusades to the Reformation right through the centuries to the first world war, Bosnia, Ulster and Afghanistan, it is difficult to think of a conflict where religion was not a major aetiological factor.