Spoils of War
Dear Editor,
I thought your readers may be interested in the following letter, which I sent to Gordon Brown and my local MP Bob Blizzard, together with a copy of the article ‘Putting the opium to good use’ from Green World 66.
Dear Gordon Brown and Bob Blizzard, I feel compelled to write to you about the killing that is going on in Afghanistan.
I was a tail gunner on Halifax Bombers during the 1939-45 War at Holme on Spalding Moor, Yorkshire, and did 32 operational duties over Germany. I had a good view from my tail turret, seeing a number of our aircraft destroyed, even by our own bombs dropping too early from above us.
After the war I went through Germany and was appalled by the damage and the human life that had been taken. At Karlsruhe there was only part of the railway station standing. All around the buildings were flattened; there was no human life about, only people on the station. It was very eerie and somewhat frightening.
There were over 55,000 Bomber Command aircrew killed, and numerous airmen injured, during the war; all volunteers. Sadly there was no Aircrew Europe Medal for Bomber aircrew who served after D-Day. Only the award of guilt for bombing Germany, from those in power. Many aircrews have gone to their graves feeling this award of guilt and many are getting very old and still feel this sense of guilt. Perhaps we ex-bomber aircrew should have an official apology for our cowardly treatment.
When one came back from a raid and discovered that some mates had been shot down, one just took it for granted and did not feel emotionally shocked. It seemed a fact of life and death then, but now seems chilling.
This is a factor that concerns me with the number of service people killed in Afghanistan that it becomes a pre-ordained happening. I am enclosing an article from the Green Party magazine, Autumn 2009. It seems to be the only way out of this terrible war, whereby everyone can win, if they want peace.
Doug Begbie, Lowestoft
Dear Editor,
I thought your readers may be interested in the following letter, which I sent to Gordon Brown and my local MP Bob Blizzard, together with a copy of the article ‘Putting the opium to good use’ from Green World 66.
Dear Gordon Brown and Bob Blizzard, I feel compelled to write to you about the killing that is going on in Afghanistan.
I was a tail gunner on Halifax Bombers during the 1939-45 War at Holme on Spalding Moor, Yorkshire, and did 32 operational duties over Germany. I had a good view from my tail turret, seeing a number of our aircraft destroyed, even by our own bombs dropping too early from above us.
After the war I went through Germany and was appalled by the damage and the human life that had been taken. At Karlsruhe there was only part of the railway station standing. All around the buildings were flattened; there was no human life about, only people on the station. It was very eerie and somewhat frightening.
There were over 55,000 Bomber Command aircrew killed, and numerous airmen injured, during the war; all volunteers. Sadly there was no Aircrew Europe Medal for Bomber aircrew who served after D-Day. Only the award of guilt for bombing Germany, from those in power. Many aircrews have gone to their graves feeling this award of guilt and many are getting very old and still feel this sense of guilt. Perhaps we ex-bomber aircrew should have an official apology for our cowardly treatment.
When one came back from a raid and discovered that some mates had been shot down, one just took it for granted and did not feel emotionally shocked. It seemed a fact of life and death then, but now seems chilling.
This is a factor that concerns me with the number of service people killed in Afghanistan that it becomes a pre-ordained happening. I am enclosing an article from the Green Party magazine, Autumn 2009. It seems to be the only way out of this terrible war, whereby everyone can win, if they want peace.
Doug Begbie, Lowestoft
Humane Focus
Dear Editor,
I’m sorry to take friendly issue with Jenny Jones in her discussion of Green crime policy. Her emphasis on what to do with people processed by the courts is misplaced. Of every hundred crimes committed in England and Wales, around two result in court sanctions. If we want to deal with the hundred crimes rather than the two, thereby reducing the carbon cost of crime and responses to it, the emphasis must be on designing and organising products and services which do not invite crime. For example, homes built to Secured By Design (SBD) standards suffer between 30% and 50% less crime than homes lacking the standard, and research shows that the difference persists for at least ten years. Visually, SBD homes are no more fortress-like than others. The techniques of designing out crime are subtle. On Jenny Jones’ London patch, Central St Martins College of Art and Design is doing brilliant work on crime reductive design which we, as Greens, should support.
I started professional life as a forensic psychologist. One day, after interviewing inmates at Wetherby Borstal, as it then was, I heard on the news that the Ford Motor Company had made record profits the previous year. One way in which this had been achieved, I realised, was skimping on security, so that getting into and starting a Ford Cortina was easy. Many of the inmates I had been interviewing had been convicted of, guess what, stealing Ford Cortinas. Improving their security struck me as a more humane way of preventing crime than sentencing those succumbing to easy opportunities.
Ken Pease, Retd Professor of Criminology, Stockport
Dear Editor,
I’m sorry to take friendly issue with Jenny Jones in her discussion of Green crime policy. Her emphasis on what to do with people processed by the courts is misplaced. Of every hundred crimes committed in England and Wales, around two result in court sanctions. If we want to deal with the hundred crimes rather than the two, thereby reducing the carbon cost of crime and responses to it, the emphasis must be on designing and organising products and services which do not invite crime. For example, homes built to Secured By Design (SBD) standards suffer between 30% and 50% less crime than homes lacking the standard, and research shows that the difference persists for at least ten years. Visually, SBD homes are no more fortress-like than others. The techniques of designing out crime are subtle. On Jenny Jones’ London patch, Central St Martins College of Art and Design is doing brilliant work on crime reductive design which we, as Greens, should support.
I started professional life as a forensic psychologist. One day, after interviewing inmates at Wetherby Borstal, as it then was, I heard on the news that the Ford Motor Company had made record profits the previous year. One way in which this had been achieved, I realised, was skimping on security, so that getting into and starting a Ford Cortina was easy. Many of the inmates I had been interviewing had been convicted of, guess what, stealing Ford Cortinas. Improving their security struck me as a more humane way of preventing crime than sentencing those succumbing to easy opportunities.
Ken Pease, Retd Professor of Criminology, Stockport
Lost Contact
Dear Editor,
Thank you for the news feature ‘ The Rights of the Father’
Surely though the real scandal of childhood in the UK is what happens after divorce/separation with many children losing contact with their fathers.
There have been a number of proposals to reform the UK law on the model used in many US states, where parents are expected to reach agreement on post-separation arrangements for children and contested court hearings are rare. However, as far as I can see, these proposals have been sidelined by Government.
In my own case I am about to go back to court – at my own expense – to try and sort out arrangements over my oldest son, while my ex-wife has the benefit of the free services of the CSA to chase me for maintenance. (By the way, always paid on time at the right amount.) My partner and I also have to run a second car so that I can collect him for his weekends with me after she moved 60 miles away, however the CSA assessment does not take this into account and the courts will not require her to bring him to me.
While it hasn’t come to enforcement of the contact arrangements – yet – it seems that the most effective form of redress if her threatened breach of our contact order happens will not be via the courts but through her professional body - the General Teaching Council.
It’s really pretty obvious where Government priorities have been for a long time: cash, not children’s welfare.
John Boxall, Frome
Dear Editor,
Thank you for the news feature ‘ The Rights of the Father’
Surely though the real scandal of childhood in the UK is what happens after divorce/separation with many children losing contact with their fathers.
There have been a number of proposals to reform the UK law on the model used in many US states, where parents are expected to reach agreement on post-separation arrangements for children and contested court hearings are rare. However, as far as I can see, these proposals have been sidelined by Government.
In my own case I am about to go back to court – at my own expense – to try and sort out arrangements over my oldest son, while my ex-wife has the benefit of the free services of the CSA to chase me for maintenance. (By the way, always paid on time at the right amount.) My partner and I also have to run a second car so that I can collect him for his weekends with me after she moved 60 miles away, however the CSA assessment does not take this into account and the courts will not require her to bring him to me.
While it hasn’t come to enforcement of the contact arrangements – yet – it seems that the most effective form of redress if her threatened breach of our contact order happens will not be via the courts but through her professional body - the General Teaching Council.
It’s really pretty obvious where Government priorities have been for a long time: cash, not children’s welfare.
John Boxall, Frome
Diversity Action
Dear Editor,
I read the article on Diversity in the recent edition of Green World with interest. In the co-operative movement we have faced similar problems - that our ideas and organisation do not seem to attract the attention of all communities in our society.
So we are excited and energised by the recent establishment of Co-operative Diversity Action, which aims to provide strategies, resources and guidance to encourage more people from Black, ethnic and minority communities to get involved in community enterprise.
www.diversityaction.coop/diversityaction
It may be that some of these strategies would be equally applicable in Green politics, or at the very least there may be the potential for sharing ideas.
I hope this information is useful.
Kate Whittle, Bristol
Dear Editor,
I read the article on Diversity in the recent edition of Green World with interest. In the co-operative movement we have faced similar problems - that our ideas and organisation do not seem to attract the attention of all communities in our society.
So we are excited and energised by the recent establishment of Co-operative Diversity Action, which aims to provide strategies, resources and guidance to encourage more people from Black, ethnic and minority communities to get involved in community enterprise.
www.diversityaction.coop/diversityaction
It may be that some of these strategies would be equally applicable in Green politics, or at the very least there may be the potential for sharing ideas.
I hope this information is useful.
Kate Whittle, Bristol
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