Spectator letters: Aid, Arabs and how to spot a gentleman

The battle over aid

Sir: Why Nations Fail, the book rightly lauded in The Spectator (‘Why aid fails’, 25 January), is one of the inspirations for many of the changes this government has made in international development policy. Those changes can best be described as driving value for money through the system, tackling conflict and instability, and building prosperity. Bringing together defence, diplomacy and development — not least through the mechanism of the National Security Council — has made a significant difference to the success of British development policy. Buried in the article is the sentence: ‘We do not argue for its [the aid budget’s] reduction.’ Our development policy is about maximising the effectiveness of what we do in all the ways that this brilliant book extols.
Andrew Mitchell MP
International Development Secretary 2010–2012
London SW1
 
Sir: Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson (25 January) argue convincingly that the UK’s international aid isn’t working. But they draw the conclusion that this is because it isn’t smart enough or targeted enough. What evidence is there that even if it were smarter, it would do any good? It is one of the great ironies that a government which believes that, at home, aid for the poor creates dependency and must be reduced nevertheless insists that, for poor people in other countries, it does not create dependency and must be increased.
John Nugée
New Malden, Surrey

Wrong image

Sir: Is The Spectator ’s cover (25 January) of two bearded, large hooked-nosed, weapon-wielding men how the publication wishes to portray a Sunni-Shia war in the Islamic world? This casual use of Middle Eastern stereotypes of both Arabs and Iranians is not new but it is certainly not helpful. Depicting Arabs and Iranians in this way risks alienating these communities further and entrenching negative stereotypes. Images matter more than words and have a major impact in how people see others.